Basic Membrane Properties of the Fluid Mosaic Model

Abstract

Every aspect of membrane structural studies involves parameters that are very small (micron to angstrom) and very fast (micro seconds to picoseconds) requiring an array of esoteric biophysical methodologies. Membrane parameters discussed in Chapter 9 include: membrane thickness; bilayer stability; membrane protein, carbohydrate, and lipid asymmetry; lipid trans-membrane movement (flip-flop); membrane lateral diffusion; membrane-cytoskeleton interaction; lipid melting behavior; and membrane fluidity. These basic membrane properties were discovered by countless investigators over ~7 decades and formed the basis of the Singer-Nicholson ‘Fluid Mosaic Model’ of membrane structure that is currently in vogue.