Everything about Phospholipid totally explained
Phospholipids are a class of
lipids, and a major component of all
biological membranes, along with
glycolipids,
cholesterol and
proteins. Understanding of the aggregation properties of these molecules is known as
lipid polymorphism and forms part of current academic research.
Amphipathic character
Due to its polar nature, the head of a phospholipid is
hydrophilic (attracted to
water); the
lipophilic (or often known as hydrophobic) tails are not attracted to water. When placed in water, phospholipids form one of a number of
lipid phases. In biological systems this is restricted to
bilayers, in which the lipophilic tails line up against one another, forming a membrane with hydrophilic heads on both sides facing the water. This allows it to form
liposomes spontaneously, or small lipid
vesicles, which can then be used to transport materials into living organisms and study diffusion rates into or out of a cell membrane.
This membrane is partially permeable, capable of elastic movement, and has
fluid properties, in which embedded proteins (integral or peripheral proteins) and phospholipid molecules are able to move laterally. Such movement can be described by the
Fluid Mosaic Model, that describes the membrane as a mosaic of lipid molecules that act as a solvent for all the substances and proteins within it, so proteins and lipid molecules are then free to diffuse laterally through the lipid matrix and migrate over the membrane.
Cholesterol contributes to membrane fluidity by hindering the packing together of phospholipids. However, this model has now been superseded, as through the study of
lipid polymorphism it's now known that the behaviour of lipids under physiological (and other) conditions isn't simple.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Phospholipid'.
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