TY - JOUR
T1 - Small-scale structure in fluid cholesterol-lipid bilayers
AU - Rheinstädter, Maikel C.
AU - Mouritsen, Ole G.
PY - 2013/10/1
Y1 - 2013/10/1
N2 - Cholesterol is the single most abundant molecule in animal plasma membranes, in the range of 20-30. mol%, where it is known to modulate the lipid-bilayer component of the membrane and lead to increased mechanical stability, lower permeability, larger thickness, and a distinct lateral organization. The phase equilibria of membranes with cholesterol and the associated large- and small-scale structure have turned out to be a particularly elusive problem. With the proposal that lipid domains and so-called 'rafts', characterized by high local levels of cholesterol in a liquid-ordered phase, are important for a wide range of cellular functions, an understanding and a quantitative assessment of the nature of these cholesterol-induced structures and their types of ordering have become urgent. Recent progress in neutron diffraction studies of lipid-cholesterol model membranes has now revealed details of the lateral ordering, and combined with earlier molecular model studies a picture emerges of the membrane as a locally structured liquid with small ordered 'domains' of a highly dynamic nature.
AB - Cholesterol is the single most abundant molecule in animal plasma membranes, in the range of 20-30. mol%, where it is known to modulate the lipid-bilayer component of the membrane and lead to increased mechanical stability, lower permeability, larger thickness, and a distinct lateral organization. The phase equilibria of membranes with cholesterol and the associated large- and small-scale structure have turned out to be a particularly elusive problem. With the proposal that lipid domains and so-called 'rafts', characterized by high local levels of cholesterol in a liquid-ordered phase, are important for a wide range of cellular functions, an understanding and a quantitative assessment of the nature of these cholesterol-induced structures and their types of ordering have become urgent. Recent progress in neutron diffraction studies of lipid-cholesterol model membranes has now revealed details of the lateral ordering, and combined with earlier molecular model studies a picture emerges of the membrane as a locally structured liquid with small ordered 'domains' of a highly dynamic nature.
KW - Cholesterol
KW - Computer simulation
KW - Correlation function
KW - Lipid bilayer
KW - Neutron scattering
KW - Raft
KW - Small-scale structure
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84882248861&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cocis.2013.07.001
DO - 10.1016/j.cocis.2013.07.001
M3 - Review
AN - SCOPUS:84882248861
SN - 1359-0294
VL - 18
SP - 440
EP - 447
JO - Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science
JF - Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science
IS - 5
ER -