We present an analytical hyperelastic constitutive model of the red blood cell (erythrocyte) membrane based on recently improved characterizations of density and microscopic structure of its spectrin network from proteomics and cryo-electron tomography.  The model includes distributions of both orientations and natural lengths of spectrin and updated copy numbers of proteins. By applying finite deformation to the spectrin network, we obtain the total free energy and stresses in terms of invariants of shear and area deformation.  We apply the model and its simplified version to analyze micropipette aspiration computationally and analytically, and explore the effect of local cytoskeletal density change.   This new constitutive model establishes a direct connection between the molecular structure of spectrin networks and constitutive laws, and also defines a new picture of a much denser spectrin network than assumed in prior studies. 

Constitutive Model of Erythrocyte Membranes with Distributions of Spectrin Orientations and Lengths

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