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Updated: Nov 6, 2025

Determination of Plasma Membrane Partitioning for Peripherally-associated Proteins
Published on: June 15, 2018
Assessment of Plasma Membrane Fatty Acid Composition and Fluidity Using Imaging Flow Cytometry
Natividad R Fuentes1,2,3, Michael L Salinas1,2, Xiaoli Wang1,2
1Program in Integrative Nutrition and Complex Diseases, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
Abstract:
Phospholipid fatty acid (FA) composition influences the biophysical properties of the plasma membrane and plays an important role in cellular signaling. Our previous work has demonstrated that plasma membrane fatty acid composition is an important determinant of oncogenic Ras signaling and that dietary (exogenous) modulation of membrane composition may underlie the chemoprotective benefits of long chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). In this chapter, we describe in vitro methods to modulate membrane phospholipid fatty acid composition of cultured cells using fatty acids complexed to bovine serum albumin (BSA). Furthermore, we describe a method to quantify the biophysical properties of plasma membranes in live cells using Di-4-ANEPPDHQ (Di4) and image-based flow cytometry.
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