Is plasma membrane lipid composition defined in the exocytic or the endocytic pathway?
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Updated: Aug 29, 2026

The Cell-based L-Glutathione Protection Assays to Study Endocytosis and Recycling of Plasma Membrane Proteins
Published on: December 13, 2013
1Department of Physiology, University College London, UK.
Abstract:
Compared with intracellular membranes, the plasma membrane is rich in cholesterol and sphingomyelin. How does this distinct composition arise? Here David Allan and Karl-Josef Kallen take a critical view of the belief that these lipids arrive at the plasma membrane via vesicular traffic from the Golgi complex and propose instead that they may be accreted in the endocytic recycling pathway.
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