Biological cell membrane

Biological membranes provide the essential barrier between cells and the organelles of which cells are composed. Cellular membranes are complicated extensive biomolecular sheetlike structures, mostly fonned by lipid molecules held together by cooperative nonco-valent interactions. A membrane is not a static structure, but rather a complex dynamical two-dimensional liquid crystalline fluid mosaic of oriented proteins and lipids. A number of experimental approaches can be used to investigate and characterize biological membranes. However, the complexity of membranes is such that experimental data remain very difficult to interpret at the microscopic level. In recent years, computational studies of membranes based on detailed atomic models, as summarized in Chapter 21, have greatly increased the ability to interpret experimental data, yielding a much-improved picture of the structure and dynamics of lipid bilayers and the relationship of those properties to membrane function [21]. 

Just how fast can proteins move in a biological membrane Many membrane proteins can move laterally across a membrane at a rate of a few microns per minute. On the other hand, some integral membrane proteins are much more restricted in their lateral movement, with diffusion rates of about 10 nm/sec or even slower. These latter proteins are often found to be anchored to the cytoskeleton (Chapter 17), a complex latticelike structure that maintains the cell s shape and assists in the controlled movement of various substances through the ceil. 

With the adequacy of lipid bilayer membranes as models for the basic structural motif and hence for the ion transport barrier of biological membranes, studies of channel and carrier ion transport mechanisms across such membranes become of central relevance to transport across cell membranes. The fundamental principles derived from these studies, however, have generality beyond the specific model systems. As noted above and as will be treated below, it is found that selective transport... 

Fig. 5. Tentative mixed potential model for the sodium-potassium pump in biological membranes the vertical lines symbolyze the surface of the ATP-ase and at the same time the ordinate of the virtual current-voltage curves on either side resulting in different Evans-diagrams. The scale of the absolute potential difference between the ATP-ase and the solution phase is indicated in the upper left comer of the figure. On each side of the enzyme a mixed potential (= circle) between Na+, K+ and also other ions (i.e. Ca2+ ) is established, resulting in a transmembrane potential of around — 60 mV. This number is not essential it is also possible that this value is established by a passive diffusion of mainly K+-ions out of the cell at a different location. This would mean that the electric field across the cell-membranes is not uniformly distributed.

Goldberg, N. D. (1975). Cyclic nucleotides and cell function. In Cell membranes, biochemistry, cell biology, and pathology. edited by G. Weissman and R. Claiborne, pp. 185-202. H. P. Publishing, New York. 

King, C.A., Preston, T.M. (1992). Cell Motility. In Fundamentals of Cell Biology, Vol. 5B Membrane Dynamics and Signalling, pp. 145-182. JAI Press Inc, Greenwich. 

CTC, used extensively to monitor calcium release in both whole cells and isolated organelles (28-33), is an amphipathic molecule that easily passes through cell membranes (see Figure 1). The fluorescence of this probe is enhanced more than fiftyfold by binding of calcium when the dye is intercalated into biological membranes. 

Recently, unique vesicle-forming (spherical bUayers that offer a hydrophilic reservoir, suitable for incorporation of water-soluble molecules, as well as hydrophobic wall that protects the loaded molecules from the external solution) setf-assembUng peptide-based amphiphilic block copolymers that mimic biological membranes have attracted great interest as polymersomes or functional polymersomes due to their new and promising applications in dmg delivery and artificial cells [ 122]. However, in all the cases the block copolymers formed are chemically dispersed and are often contaminated with homopolymer. 

Cholesterol is found in many biological membrane and is the main sterol of animal organisms. It is eqnimolar with phospholipids in membranes of liver cell, erythrocytes, and myelin, whereas in human stratum comeum it lies in the outermost layer of the epidermis... 

The use of Upid bilayers as a relevant model of biological membranes has provided important information on the structure and function of cell membranes. To utilize the function of cell membrane components for practical applications, a stabilization of Upid bilayers is imperative, because free-standing bilayer lipid membranes (BLMs) typically survive for minutes to hours and are very sensitive to vibration and mechanical shocks [156,157]. The following concept introduces S-layer proteins as supporting structures for BLMs (Fig. 15c) with largely retained physical features (e.g., thickness of the bilayer, fluidity). Electrophysical and spectroscopical studies have been performed to assess the appUcation potential of S-layer-supported lipid membranes. The S-layer protein used in aU studies on planar BLMs was isolated fromB. coagulans E38/vl. 

A very important property of the membranes are the membrane potentials that are established. For biological membranes, the membrane potential is defined as the potential in the fluid within the cell relative to that in the fluid outside the ceU cPm = Nowadays techniques are available for direct measurements of mem-... 

The biological membranes that surround cells and form the boundaries of intracellular organelles contain polyunsaturated fiitty acids, which are susceptible to oxidation. This reaction is used under controlled conditions by enzymes, such as the lipoxygenases or cyclooxygenases, within cells to produce oxygenated lipids, which can act as mediators of inflammation (Smith and Marnett, 1991 Yamamoto, 1992). Such compounds are characterized by their high potency and specificity in their interaction with cells (Salmon, 1986). While these enzymatic reactions... 

Whereas the relationship of solute permeability with lipophilicity has been studied in a large number of in vivo systems (including intestinal absorption models [54,55], blood-brain [56 58] and blood nerve [59] barrier models, and cell culture models [60 62], to name just a few), numerous in vitro model systems have been developed to overcome the complexity of working with biological membranes [63-66]. Apart from oil-water systems that are discussed here, the distribution of a solute between a water phase and liposomes is... 

Methods for quantifying both the transcellular diffusion and concurrent metabolism of drugs and the unusual transcellular diffusion of membrane-interactive molecules coupled with the influence of protein binding are described in detail. To demonstrate the utility of cultured cell monolayers as a tool for basic science investigations, a subsection is devoted to the elucidation of rate-determining steps and factors in the passive diffusion of peptides across biological membranes. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the judicious use of in vitro cell monolayer results to predict in vivo results. 

Wisniewska, A., J. Draus, and W. K. Subczynski. 2006. Is fluid mosaic model of biological membranes fully relevant Studies on lipid organization in model and biological membranes. Cell. Mol. Biol. Lett. 8 147-154. 

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