Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Fluid mosaic model of a cell membrane. The fluid mosaic model explains various characteristics regarding the structure of functional cell membranes.According to this biological model, there is a lipid bilayer (two molecules thick layer consisting primarily of amphipathic phospholipids) in which protein molecules are embedded.
Cross-sectional view of the structures that can be formed by phospholipids in an aqueous solution. A biological membrane, biomembrane or cell membrane is a selectively permeable membrane that separates the interior of a cell from the external environment or creates intracellular compartments by serving as a boundary between one part of the cell and another.
Illustration of a eukaryotic cell membrane Comparison of a eukaryotic vs. a prokaryotic cell membrane. The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of a cell from the outside environment (the extracellular space).
Detailed diagram of lipid bilayer of cell membrane. The cell membrane, or plasma membrane, is a selectively permeable [citation needed] biological membrane that surrounds the cytoplasm of a cell. In animals, the plasma membrane is the outer boundary of the cell, while in plants and prokaryotes it is usually covered by a cell wall.
These responses include changes in gene expression and alterations in cytoskeleton structure. The extracellular face of the plasma membrane has a variety of proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids which project outward and act as signals. Direct contact between cells allows the receptors on one cell to bind the small molecules attached to the ...
They also failed to describe membrane function and had false assumptions such as that of plasma membranes consisting mostly of lipids. However, on the whole, this envisioning of the lipid bi-layer structure became the basic underlying assumption for each successive refinement in a modern understanding of membrane function. [2]
Sphingomyelin, as well as other sphingolipids, are associated with lipid microdomains in the plasma membrane known as lipid rafts. Lipid rafts are characterized by the lipid molecules being in the lipid ordered phase, offering more structure and rigidity compared to the rest of the plasma membrane.
Around the desmotubule and the plasma membrane areas of an electron dense material have been seen, often joined together by spoke-like structures that seem to split the plasmodesma into smaller channels. [15] These structures may be composed of myosin [17] [18] [19] and actin, [18] [20] which are part of the cell's cytoskeleton. If this is the ...