Surfactant coated receptors

The receptor mechanism involved in cell uptake of lipids from blood in the form of LDL (low-density lipoprotein) has been revealed by the work of Brown and Goldstein [71]. When the lipoprotein is boimd to the receptor, a "coated" pit deepens and buds off to form a "coated" vesicle inside the cell (endocytosis). The "coat" represents a general principle of cell transport that is known mainly from the work by Bretscher [72]. The protein forming this coat is clathrin, which aggregates into planar network (or basket-like cages, morphologically similar to "mesh" phases of lipids or surfactants in water, cf. Chapter 4) and the lipid bilayer can span these nets, like a soap film spanning a wire net. 

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