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Close contact fluctuations: the seeding of signalling domains in the immunological synapse

Amit K Chattopadhyay·Nigel J Burroughs
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Abstract

We analyse the size and density of thermally induced regions of close contact in cell:cell contact interfaces within a harmonic potential approximation, estimating these regions to be below one-tenth of a micron across. Our calculations indicate that as the distance between the close contact threshold depth and the mean membrane-membrane separation increases, the density of close contact patches decreases exponentially while there is only a minimal variation in their mean size. The technique developed can be used to calculate the probability of first crossing in reflection symmetry violating systems.

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Amit K Chattopadhyay, Nigel J Burroughs. 2006-12-14. Close contact fluctuations: the seeding of signalling domains in the immunological synapse. https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/77/48003

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