Question

structure of plasma membrane

Answer 1

Like all other cellular membranes, the plasma membrane consists of both lipids and proteins. The fundamental structure of the membrane is the phospholipid bilayer, which forms a stable barrier between two aqueous compartments

Answer 2

Like all other cellular membranes, the plasma membrane consists of both lipids and proteins. The fundamental structure of the membrane is the phospholipid bilayer, which forms a stable barrier between two aqueous compartments. In the case of the plasma membrane, these compartments are the inside and the outside of the cell. Proteins embedded within the phospholipid bilayer carry out the specific functions of the plasma membrane, including selective transport of molecules and cell-cell recognition.

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The Phospholipid Bilayer

The plasma membrane is the most thoroughly studied of all cell membranes, and it is largely through investigations of the plasma membrane that our current concepts of membrane structure have evolved. The plasma membranes of mammalian red blood cells (erythrocytes) have been particularly useful as a model for studies of membrane structure. Mammalian red blood cells do not contain nuclei or internal membranes, so they represent a source from which pure plasma membranes can be easily isolated for biochemical analysis.l, studies of the red blood cell plasma membrane provided the first evidence that biological membranes consist of lipid bilayers. In 1925, two Dutch scientists (E. Gorter and R. Grendel) extracted the membrane lipids from a known number of red blood cells, corresponding to a known surface area of plasma membrane. They then determined the surface area occupied by a monolayer of the extracted lipid spread out at an air-water interface. The surface area of the lipid monolayer turned out to be twice that occupied by the erythrocyte plasma membranes, leading to the conclusion that the membranes consisted of lipid bilayers rather than monolayers........
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