Elasticity Of Cell Membranes
A cell membrane defines a boundary between the living cell and its environment. It consists of lipids, proteins, carbohydrates etc. Lipids and proteins are dominant components of membranes. One of the principal types of lipids in membranes is phospholipid. A phospholipid molecule has a polar hydrophilic head group and two hydrophobic hydrocarbon tails. When a quantity of lipid molecules disperse in water, they will assemble themselves into a bilayer in which the hydrophilic heads shield the hydrophobic tails from the water surroundings because of the hydrophobic forces.
The widely accepted model for cell membranes is the fluid mosaic model proposed by Singer and Nicolson in 1972 . In this model, the cell membrane is considered as a lipid bilayer where the lipid molecules can move freely in the membrane surface like fluid, while the proteins are embedded in the lipid bilayer. Some proteins are called integral membrane proteins because they traverse entirely in the lipid bilayer and play the role of information and matter communications between the interior of the cell and its outer environment. The others are called peripheral membrane proteins because they are partially embedded in the bilayer and accomplish the other biological functions. Beneath the lipid membrane, the membrane skeleton, a network of proteins, links with the proteins in the lipid membrane.
Read more about Elasticity Of Cell Membranes: Elasticity of Lipid Vesicles, Elasticity of Open Lipid Membranes, Elasticity of Cell Membranes
Famous quotes containing the words elasticity of, elasticity, cell and/or membranes:
“A submissive spirit might be patient, a strong understanding would supply resolution, but here was something more; here was that elasticity of mind, that disposition to be comforted, that power of turning readily from evil to good, and of finding employment which carried her out of herself, which was from Nature alone. It was the choicest gift of heaven.”
—Jane Austen (1775–1817)
“A submissive spirit might be patient, a strong understanding would supply resolution, but here was something more; here was that elasticity of mind, that disposition to be comforted, that power of turning readily from evil to good, and of finding employment which carried her out of herself, which was from Nature alone. It was the choicest gift of heaven.”
—Jane Austen (1775–1817)
“I turn and turn in my cell like a fly that doesn’t know where to die.”
—Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937)
“The cause of Sense, is the External Body, or Object, which presseth the organ proper to each Sense, either immediately, as in the Taste and Touch; or mediately, as in Seeing, Hearing, and Smelling: which pressure, by the mediation of Nerves, and other strings, and membranes of the body, continued inwards to the Brain, and Heart, causeth there a resistance, or counter- pressure, or endeavor of the heart, to deliver it self: which endeavor because Outward, seemeth to be some matter without.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)