Brown Frank L H
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
Annu Rev Phys Chem. 2008;59:685-712. doi: 10.1146/annurev.physchem.59.032607.093550.
The simulation of biological membranes over length and time scales relevant to cellular biology is not currently feasible using conventional (fully atomic or molecularly detailed) simulation strategies. Given the wide disparity between what is possible on today's computers and the problems one might like to study, it seems unlikely this situation will change for several decades. An appealing alternative to traditional computational approaches is to employ simpler, continuum-based models developed within the frameworks of elasticity theory, fluid dynamics, and statistical mechanics. Although such models have seen wide use in analytical descriptions of membrane behavior, the extension of these methods to more general situations and numerical analysis is just beginning to be explored. This article reviews continuum models for membrane behavior with an emphasis on the use of such models in computational studies. Two applications are explored to demonstrate the utility of this level of coarse-grained modeling.
使用传统的（完全原子或分子细节）模拟策略，目前无法在与细胞生物学相关的长度和时间尺度上模拟生物膜。鉴于当今计算机所能实现的与人们可能想要研究的问题之间存在巨大差距，这种情况似乎在几十年内都不太可能改变。传统计算方法的一个有吸引力的替代方案是采用在弹性理论、流体动力学和统计力学框架内开发的更简单的基于连续介质的模型。尽管此类模型在膜行为的分析描述中已得到广泛应用，但将这些方法扩展到更一般的情况和数值分析才刚刚开始探索。本文回顾了膜行为的连续介质模型，重点是此类模型在计算研究中的应用。探讨了两个应用以证明这种粗粒度建模水平的实用性。
