Abnormalities of Cell-Membrane Fluidity in the Pathogenesis of Disease

Early in this century, colloid chemists debated about whether cells were bounded by a surface membrane. Today, they debate about the organization of molecules within that membrane. The research involved has led to two images of the cell membrane — as a sea of lipid with islands of protein and as a matrix of protein with lakes of lipid. Both concepts suggest that zones of fluid lipid within the membrane form the environment for membrane proteins. Much of this lipid is in the form of a bilamellar leaflet with hydrophilic portions that face the aqueous environment on either side and . . .