On scattered waves and lipid domains: detecting membrane rafts with X-rays and neutrons.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 26428538.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1039/c5sm01807b and PMC identifier 4719199.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
In order to understand the biological role of lipids in cell membranes, it is necessary to determine the mesoscopic structure of well-defined model membrane systems. Neutron and X-ray scattering are non-invasive, probe-free techniques that have been used extensively in such systems to probe length scales ranging from angstroms to microns, and dynamics occurring over picosecond to millisecond time scales. Recent developments in the area of phase separated lipid systems mimicking membrane rafts will be presented, and the underlying concepts of the different scattering techniques used to study them will be discussed in detail.
Medical subject headings
- Cell Membrane