Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics Simulation of a Red Blood Cell

A worm-like chain model based on a spectrin network is employed to study the biomechanics of red blood cells. Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations are performed to obtain a stable configuration free of external loadings. We also discuss the influence of two parameters: the average bending modulus and the persistence length. The change in shape of a malaria-infected red blood cell can contribute to the change in its molecular-based structure. As the persistence length of the membrane network in the infected red blood cell decreases, the deformability decreases and the biconcave shape is destroyed. The numerical results are comparable with previously reported experimental results. The coarse-grained model can be used to study the relationship between macro-mechanical properties and molecular-scale structures of cells.