| phospholipid bilayer | <biochemistry> A lamellar organisation of phospholipids that are packed as a bilayer with hydrophobic acyl tails inwardly directed and polar head groups on the outside surfaces. It is this bilayer that forms the basis of membranes in cells, though in most cellular membranes a very substantial proportion of the area may be occupied by integral proteins. The triple layered appearance of membranes seen in electron microscopy is thought to arise because the osmium tetroxide binds to the polar regions leaving a central, unstained, hydrophobic region. (31 Dec 1997) |
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| fluid bilayer model | Generally accepted model for membranes in cells. In its original form, the model held that proteins floated in a sea of phospholipids arranged as a bilayer with a central hydrophobic domain. Although it is now recognised that some proteins are restrained by interactions with cytoskeletal elements and that the phospholipid annulus around a protein may contain only specific types of lipid, the model is still considered broadly correct. (18 Nov 1997) |
| lipid bilayer | <biochemistry> A lamellar organisation of phospholipids that are packed as a bilayer with hydrophobic acyl tails inwardly directed and polar head groups on the outside surfaces. It is this bilayer that forms the basis of membranes in cells, though in most cellular membranes a very substantial proportion of the area may be occupied by integral proteins. The triple layered appearance of membranes seen in electron microscopy is thought to arise because the osmium tetroxide binds to the polar regions leaving a central, unstained, hydrophobic region. (31 Dec 1997) |