Prediction of bending stiffness and deformed shape of non-axially compressed microtubule by a semi-analytical approach.

The bending stiffness of a microtubule is one of the most important parameters needed in the analysis of microtubule deformation. In this study, a semi-analytical approach is developed to predict the bending stiffness and deformed shape of a non-axially compressed microtubule in an explicit closed form. By using the solution presented in this paper and the experimentally observed values given in the literature, both the deformed configuration and bending stiffness of a single microtubule are determined. The proposed method is validated by comparing the obtained results with available data in the literature. The comparison shows that the present semi-analytical formulation provides the same accuracy with reduced numerical effort.