A report on Lipid bilayer

This fluid lipid bilayer cross section is made up entirely of phosphatidylcholine.

The three main structures phospholipids form in solution; the liposome (a closed bilayer), the micelle and the bilayer.

TEM image of a bacterium. The furry appearance on the outside is due to a coat of long-chain sugars attached to the cell membrane. This coating helps trap water to prevent the bacterium from becoming dehydrated.

Diagram showing the effect of unsaturated lipids on a bilayer. The lipids with an unsaturated tail (blue) disrupt the packing of those with only saturated tails (black). The resulting bilayer has more free space and is, as a consequence, more permeable to water and other small molecules.

Illustration of a GPCR signaling protein. In response to a molecule such as a hormone binding to the exterior domain (blue) the GPCR changes shape and catalyzes a chemical reaction on the interior domain (red). The gray feature is the surrounding bilayer.

Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) image of a lipid vesicle. The two dark bands around the edge are the two leaflets of the bilayer. Historically, similar images confirmed that the cell membrane is a bilayer

Human red blood cells viewed through a fluorescence microscope. The cell membrane has been stained with a fluorescent dye. Scale bar is 20μm.

3d-Adapted AFM images showing formation of transmembrane pores (holes) in supported lipid bilayer

Illustration of a typical AFM scan of a supported lipid bilayer. The pits are defects in the bilayer, exposing the smooth surface of the substrate underneath.

Structure of a potassium ion channel. The alpha helices penetrate the bilayer (boundaries indicated by red and blue lines), opening a hole through which potassium ions can flow

Schematic illustration of pinocytosis, a type of endocytosis

Exocytosis of outer membrane vesicles (MV) liberated from inflated periplasmic pockets (p) on surface of human Salmonella 3,10:r:- pathogens docking on plasma membrane of macrophage cells (M) in chicken ileum, for host-pathogen signaling in vivo.

Schematic showing two possible conformations of the lipids at the edge of a pore. In the top image the lipids have not rearranged, so the pore wall is hydrophobic. In the bottom image some of the lipid heads have bent over, so the pore wall is hydrophilic.

Illustration of lipid vesicles fusing showing two possible outcomes: hemifusion and full fusion. In hemifusion, only the outer bilayer leaflets mix. In full fusion both leaflets as well as the internal contents mix.

Schematic illustration of the process of fusion through stalk formation.

Diagram of the action of SNARE proteins docking a vesicle for exocytosis. Complementary versions of the protein on the vesicle and the target membrane bind and wrap around each other, drawing the two bilayers close together in the process.

Thin polar membrane made of two layers of lipid molecules.

- Lipid bilayer

37 related topics with Alpha

Flippase

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Flippases (rarely spelled flipases) are transmembrane lipid transporter proteins located in the membrane which belong to ABC transporter or P4-type ATPase families.

The possibility of active maintenance of an asymmetric distribution of molecules in the phospholipid bilayer was predicted in the early 1970s by Mark Bretscher.

Phospholipid scramblase

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Scramblase is a protein responsible for the translocation of phospholipids between the two monolayers of a lipid bilayer of a cell membrane.

Annular lipid shell

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Annular lipids (also called shell lipids or boundary lipids) are a set of lipids or lipidic molecules which preferentially bind or stick to the surface of membrane proteins in biological cells.

Polar headgroups of these lipids bind to the hydrophilic part of the membrane protein(s) at the inner and outer surfaces of lipid bilayer membrane.

Lipid bilayer fusion

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(1.) Illustration of lipid mixing assay based on Förster resonance energy transfer.

(3.) Illustration of lipid mixing assay based on Fluorescence self-quenching.

(1.) Illustration of content mixing assay based on fluorescence quencing pair ANTS/DPX.

(2.)Illustration of content mixing assay based on fluorescence enhancement pair Tb3+/DPA.

In membrane biology, fusion is the process by which two initially distinct lipid bilayers merge their hydrophobic cores, resulting in one interconnected structure.

An AFM generates images by scanning a small cantilever over the surface of a sample. The sharp tip on the end of the cantilever contacts the surface, bending the cantilever and changing the amount of laser light reflected into the photodiode. The height of the cantilever is then adjusted to restore the response signal, resulting in the measured cantilever height tracing the surface.

Atomic force microscopy

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Very-high-resolution type of scanning probe microscopy (SPM), with demonstrated resolution on the order of fractions of a nanometer, more than 1000 times better than the optical diffraction limit.

An atomic force microscope on the left with controlling computer on the right

Atomic force microscope topographical scan of a glass surface. The micro and nano-scale features of the glass can be observed, portraying the roughness of the material. The image space is (x,y,z) = (20 µm × 20 µm × 420 nm).

Single polymer chains (0.4 nm thick) recorded in a tapping mode under aqueous media with different pH.

Showing an AFM artifact arising from a tip with a high radius of curvature with respect to the feature that is to be visualized

AFM image of part of a Golgi apparatus isolated from HeLa cells

Tapping mode imaging is gentle enough even for the visualization of supported lipid bilayers or adsorbed single polymer molecules (for instance, 0.4 nm thick chains of synthetic polyelectrolytes) under liquid medium.

Action potential

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Action potential occurs when the membrane potential of a specific cell location rapidly rises and falls.

Shape of a typical action potential. The membrane potential remains near a baseline level until at some point in time, it abruptly spikes upward and then rapidly falls.

Approximate plot of a typical action potential shows its various phases as the action potential passes a point on a cell membrane. The membrane potential starts out at approximately −70 mV at time zero. A stimulus is applied at time = 1 ms, which raises the membrane potential above −55 mV (the threshold potential). After the stimulus is applied, the membrane potential rapidly rises to a peak potential of +40 mV at time = 2 ms. Just as quickly, the potential then drops and overshoots to −90 mV at time = 3 ms, and finally the resting potential of −70 mV is reestablished at time = 5 ms.

Action potential propagation along an axon

$Ion movement during an action potential. Key: a) Sodium (Na+) ion. b) Potassium (K+) ion. c) Sodium channel. d) Potassium channel. e) Sodium-potassium pump. In the stages of an action potential, the permeability of the membrane of the neuron changes. At the resting state (1), sodium and potassium ions have limited ability to pass through the membrane, and the neuron has a net negative charge inside. Once the action potential is triggered, the depolarization (2) of the neuron activates sodium channels, allowing sodium ions to pass through the cell membrane into the cell, resulting in a net positive charge in the neuron relative to the extracellular fluid. After the action potential peak is reached, the neuron begins repolarization (3), where the sodium channels close and potassium channels open, allowing potassium ions to cross the membrane into the extracellular fluid, returning the membrane potential to a negative value. Finally, there is a refractory period (4), during which the voltage-dependent ion channels are inactivated while the Na+ and K+ ions return to their resting state distributions across the membrane (1), and the neuron is ready to repeat the process for the next action potential.$

When an action potential arrives at the end of the pre-synaptic axon (top), it causes the release of neurotransmitter molecules that open ion channels in the post-synaptic neuron (bottom). The combined excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic potentials of such inputs can begin a new action potential in the post-synaptic neuron.

In pacemaker potentials, the cell spontaneously depolarizes (straight line with upward slope) until it fires an action potential.

In saltatory conduction, an action potential at one node of Ranvier causes inwards currents that depolarize the membrane at the next node, provoking a new action potential there; the action potential appears to "hop" from node to node.

Comparison of the conduction velocities of myelinated and unmyelinated axons in the cat. The conduction velocity v of myelinated neurons varies roughly linearly with axon diameter d (that is, v ∝ d), whereas the speed of unmyelinated neurons varies roughly as the square root (v ∝√d). The red and blue curves are fits of experimental data, whereas the dotted lines are their theoretical extrapolations.

Cable theory's simplified view of a neuronal fiber. The connected RC circuits correspond to adjacent segments of a passive neurite. The extracellular resistances re (the counterparts of the intracellular resistances ri) are not shown, since they are usually negligibly small; the extracellular medium may be assumed to have the same voltage everywhere.

Electrical synapses between excitable cells allow ions to pass directly from one cell to another, and are much faster than chemical synapses.

Phases of a cardiac action potential. The sharp rise in voltage ("0") corresponds to the influx of sodium ions, whereas the two decays ("1" and "3", respectively) correspond to the sodium-channel inactivation and the repolarizing eflux of potassium ions. The characteristic plateau ("2") results from the opening of voltage-sensitive calcium channels.

Giant axons of the longfin inshore squid (Doryteuthis pealeii) were crucial for scientists to understand the action potential.

As revealed by a patch clamp electrode, an ion channel has two states: open (high conductance) and closed (low conductance).

Tetrodotoxin is a lethal toxin found in pufferfish that inhibits the voltage-sensitive sodium channel, halting action potentials.

Image of two Purkinje cells (labeled as A) drawn by Santiago Ramón y Cajal in 1899. Large trees of dendrites feed into the soma, from which a single axon emerges and moves generally downwards with a few branch points. The smaller cells labeled B are granule cells.

Ribbon diagram of the sodium–potassium pump in its E2-Pi state. The estimated boundaries of the lipid bilayer are shown as blue (intracellular) and red (extracellular) planes.

Equivalent electrical circuit for the Hodgkin–Huxley model of the action potential. Im and Vm represent the current through, and the voltage across, a small patch of membrane, respectively. The Cm represents the capacitance of the membrane patch, whereas the four g's represent the conductances of four types of ions. The two conductances on the left, for potassium (K) and sodium (Na), are shown with arrows to indicate that they can vary with the applied voltage, corresponding to the voltage-sensitive ion channels. The two conductances on the right help determine the resting membrane potential.

A cell membrane consists of a lipid bilayer of molecules in which larger protein molecules are embedded.

Liposome

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Liposomes are composite structures made of phospholipids and may contain small amounts of other molecules. Though liposomes can vary in size from low micrometer range to tens of micrometers, unilamellar liposomes, as pictured here, are typically in the lower size range with various targeting ligands attached to their surface allowing for their surface-attachment and accumulation in pathological areas for treatment of disease.

A micrograph of phosphatidylcholine liposomes, which were stained with fluorochrome acridine orange. Method of fluorescence microscopy (1250-fold magnification).

Various types of phosphatidylcholine liposomes in suspension. Method of phase-contrast microscopy (1000-fold magnification). The following types of liposomes are visible: small monolamellar vesicles, large monolamellar vesicles, multilamellar vesicles, oligolamellar vesicles.

Pictorial representation of targeted theranostics liposomal delivery

A liposome is a spherical vesicle having at least one lipid bilayer.

Sphingolipid

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Sphingolipids are a class of lipids containing a backbone of sphingoid bases, a set of aliphatic amino alcohols that includes sphingosine.

Metabolic pathways of various forms of sphingolipids. Sphingolipidoses are labeled at corresponding stages that are deficient.

Sphingolipids are commonly believed to protect the cell surface against harmful environmental factors by forming a mechanically stable and chemically resistant outer leaflet of the plasma membrane lipid bilayer.

HIV

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The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of Lentivirus (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans.

A diagram of the HIV spike protein (green), with the fusion peptide epitope highlighted in red, and a broadly neutralizing antibody (yellow) binding to the fusion peptide

Diagram of the immature and mature forms of HIV

Mechanism of viral entry: 1. Initial interaction between gp120 and CD4. 2. Conformational change in gp120 allows for secondary interaction with CCR5. 3. The distal tips of gp41 are inserted into the cellular membrane. 4. gp41 undergoes significant conformational change; folding in half and forming coiled-coils. This process pulls the viral and cellular membranes together, fusing them.

Reverse transcription of the HIV genome into double-stranded DNA

HIV assembling on the surface of an infected macrophage. The HIV virions have been marked with a green fluorescent tag and then viewed under a fluorescent microscope.

Animation demonstrating cell-free spread of HIV

The phylogenetic tree of the SIV and HIV

A generalized graph of the relationship between HIV copies (viral load) and CD4 counts over the average course of untreated HIV infection; any particular individual's disease course may vary considerably.

Left to right: the African green monkey source of SIV, the sooty mangabey source of HIV-2, and the chimpanzee source of HIV-1

This is, in turn, surrounded by the viral envelope, that is composed of the lipid bilayer taken from the membrane of a human host cell when the newly formed virus particle buds from the cell.

Diagram of lipid vesicles showing a solution of biomolecules (green dots) trapped in the vesicle interior.

Artificial cell

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Engineered particle that mimics one or many functions of a biological cell.

Standard artificial cell (top) and drug delivery artificial cell (bottom).

Representative types of artificial cell membranes.

Schematic representation of encapsulated cells within artificial membrane.

Phospholipid membranes are an obvious choice as compartmentalizing boundaries, as they act as selective barriers in all living biological cells.