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Related Concept Videos

Protein Diffusion in the Membrane01:24

Protein Diffusion in the Membrane

Proteins show rotational as well as lateral diffusion across the membrane. The lateral diffusion of proteins was confirmed through the cell fusion experiment where mouse and human cells were fused, resulting in hybrid cells. When the human and mouse cells fused, the specific membrane proteins on human and mouse cells were marked with the red and green-fluorescent markers, respectively. Initially, the red and green fluorescence was located on the respective hemisphere of the cell. As time...
Diffusion01:12

Diffusion

Diffusion is the passive movement of substances down their concentration gradients—requiring no expenditure of cellular energy. Substances, such as molecules or ions, diffuse from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration in the cytosol or across membranes. Eventually, the concentration will even out, with the substance moving randomly but causing no net change in concentration. Such a state is called dynamic equilibrium, which is essential for maintaining overall...
Diffusion01:21

Diffusion

Diffusion is a type of passive transport. In passive transport, a substance tends to move from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration until the concentration is equal across the space. For example, take the diffusion of substances through the air. When someone opens a perfume bottle in a room filled with people, the perfume is at its highest concentration in the bottle and is at its lowest at the edges of the room. The perfume vapor will diffuse, or spread away, from the...
Passive Diffusion: Overview and Kinetics01:17

Passive Diffusion: Overview and Kinetics

Passive diffusion is a critical process that allows small lipophilic drugs to cross the cell membrane along a concentration gradient. This mechanism's efficiency depends on four primary factors: the membrane's surface area, the drug's lipid-water partition coefficient, the concentration gradient, and the membrane's thickness.
When administered orally, drugs establish a substantial concentration gradient between the gastrointestinal (GI) lumen and the bloodstream, expediting their diffusion into...
Membrane Fluidity01:26

Membrane Fluidity

Membrane fluidity is explained by the fluid mosaic model of the cell membrane, which describes the plasma membrane structure as a mosaic of components—including phospholipids, cholesterol, proteins, and carbohydrates—that gives the membrane a fluid character.
Mosaic nature of the membrane
The mosaic characteristic of the membrane helps the plasma membrane remain fluid. The integral proteins and lipids exist as separate but loosely-attached molecules in the membrane. The membrane is a relatively...
Membrane Fluidity01:23

Membrane Fluidity

Cell membranes are composed of phospholipids, proteins, and carbohydrates loosely attached to one another through chemical interactions. Molecules are generally able to move about in the plane of the membrane, giving the membrane its flexible nature called fluidity. Two other features of the membrane contribute to membrane fluidity: the chemical structure of the phospholipids and the presence of cholesterol in the membrane.Fatty acids tails of phospholipids can be either saturated or...

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Updated: Jul 9, 2026

Single-Molecule Diffusion and Assembly on Polymer-Crowded Lipid Membranes
10:43

Single-Molecule Diffusion and Assembly on Polymer-Crowded Lipid Membranes

Published on: July 19, 2022

Lateral diffusion in lipid membranes through collective flows.

Emma Falck1, Tomasz Róg, Mikko Karttunen

  • 1Laboratory of Physics and Helsinki Institute of Physics, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland.

Journal of the American Chemical Society
|December 15, 2007
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Cellular membrane dynamics are poorly understood. Atomic simulations reveal lipids and neighbors move in concert, forming clusters and correlated flow patterns impacting membrane functions.

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Fluorescence Recovery after Merging a Droplet to Measure the Two-dimensional Diffusion of a Phospholipid Monolayer
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Spot Variation Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy for Analysis of Molecular Diffusion at the Plasma Membrane of Living Cells

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Area of Science:

  • Biophysics
  • Cell Biology
  • Computational Biology

Background:

  • Cellular membrane dynamics, including lipid diffusion, lack comprehensive models.
  • Understanding these dynamics is crucial for various biological processes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To elucidate the mechanism of lipid diffusion in cellular membranes.
  • To investigate the collective motion and spatial correlations of lipids.

Main Methods:

  • Atomic-scale molecular dynamics simulations were employed.
  • Analysis focused on lipid trajectories and neighbor interactions.

Main Results:

  • A novel, concerted mechanism for lipid diffusion was identified, where lipids move with their nearest neighbors in clusters.
  • Lipid motions are correlated over tens of nanometers, generating two-dimensional flow patterns within the membrane monolayer.

Conclusions:

  • The findings suggest a new model for lipid diffusion, challenging previous understandings.
  • These correlated flow patterns have significant implications for membrane domain formation, protein function, and drug interactions with membranes.