Question

In plasma membrane, the quasi-fluid fluid nature of lipid enables lateral movement of protein within overall bilayer.


In the above sentence ,what are the meanings of quasi and quasi fluid?

Answer 1

Quasi means 'partially' or 'semi'. 

In other words what it's saying is that something that is quasi-fluid acts partly like a fluid and partly like a solid. A good example would be agar jelly which is soft and rubbery and appears solid but yet allows liquids to diffuse through it 

A cell membrane is quasi-fluid because it acts like a solid by enclosing the cell contents (something that a fully fluid liquid could not do) and also like a liquid by allowing molecules to move through it by osmosis and diffusion (something a solid would not do, or at least not at a fast enough rate)

Answer 2

Quasi fluid means a semi fluid i.e , it is neither a liquid nor a solid it is basically gel-like.