Propagation of membrane tension mediates mechanical signal transduction along surfaces of live cells and sets the time scale of mechanical equilibration of cell membranes. In stark contrast to the earlier expectations, studies in several cell types and under different conditions revealed a strikingly wide range of the tension propagation speeds, including extremely low ones. The latter suggests a possibility of long-living inhomogeneities of membrane tension crucially affecting mechano-sensitive membrane processes. Here, we propose a general principle of tension propagation in cell membranes which are compartmentalized by the underlying cortical cytoskeleton and crumpled within each compartment. We suggest that the tension propagation is mediated by the 2D membrane flow between the compartments. We predict the pace of the tension propagation to be controlled by the relationship between the compartment’s membrane tension and the excess area stored in the crumples. We consider the realization of this principle for several specific mechanisms of membrane crumpling.
Kozlov et al. (Sun,) studied this question.