Involvement of Membranes in Cellular Responses to Hyperthermia

A number of major questions remain unanswered regarding the relationship between cellular membranes and the viability of cells exposed to hyperthermia. Foremost, are membranes involved at all in hyperthermic killing, radiosensitization, or thermotolerance of mammalian cells after heating to hyperthermic temperatures in the range of 41-45?C? If so, which membranes are implicated: plasma, nuclear, mitochondrial, lysosomal, endoplasmic reticular, etc? Damage might be restricted to only one area of a membrane due to membrane heterogeneity (1). In particular, what specific molecular alterations occur in membranes when they are heated to hyperthermic temperatures? In this communication some of the known structural and functional changes in membranes due to heating will be summarized.