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PMID: 9560211 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Phospholipid composition of the mammalian red cell membrane can be rationalized by a superlattice model.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ·Vol. 95 ·No. 9 ·1998-04-28 ·Pages 4964-9

Virtanen JA, Cheng KH, Somerharju P

Abstract

Although the phospholipid composition of the erythrocyte membrane has been studied extensively, it remains an enigma as to how the observed composition arises and is maintained. We show here that the phospholipid composition of the human erythrocyte membrane as a whole, as well as the composition of its individual leaflets, is closely predicted by a model proposing that phospholipid head groups tend to adopt regular, superlattice-like lateral distributions. The phospholipid composition of the erythrocyte membrane from most other mammalian species, as well as of the platelet plasma membrane, also agrees closely with the predictions of the superlattice model. Statistical analyses indicate that the agreement between the observed and predicted compositions is highly significant, thus suggesting that head group superlattices may indeed play a central role in the maintenance of the phospholipid composition of the erythrocyte membrane.

MeSH Terms
Animals Blood Platelets/ultrastructure Erythrocyte Membrane/ultrastructure Humans Membrane Lipids/chemistry Models, Biological Phospholipids/chemistry
Chemicals
Membrane Lipids Phospholipids
Authors & Affiliations
3 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Virtanen J A
Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
Cheng K H
Somerharju P
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Article Info
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Abbr.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN
0027-8424
DOI
10.1073/pnas.95.9.4964
Published
1998-04-28
Pages
4964-9
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
7505876
PMCID
PMC20196
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1073/pnas.95.9.4964 PMC Full Text View journal details
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