ReviewBiochimica et biophysica acta2009
An introduction to critical points for biophysicists; observations of compositional heterogeneity in lipid membranes.
Review in Biochimica et biophysica acta, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 109 papers.
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Who cites it
109 citing papers in PubMed.
- RIFT: A Fractal-Holographic Theory of Consciousness and Autopoietic Control.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Large-scale endoplasmic reticulum membrane solidification spatially organises proteins under thermal or metabolic stress.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Cannabidiol (CBD) Induces Lipid Microdomain Disruption or Budding in Ternary Mixtures.The journal of physical chemistry. B · 2026Article
- Nanodomain formation in lipid bilayers II: The influence of mixed-chain saturated lipids.Biochimica et biophysica acta. Biomembranes · 2026Article
- Nanodomain formation in lipid bilayers II: The influence of mixed-chain saturated lipids.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Electrodeformation of DMPC vesicle membranes near the main phase transition.Biophysical journal · 2025Article
- Markov models and long-term memory in ion channels: A contradiction in terms?Biophysical journal · 2025Article
- Selectivity of membrane-active peptides: the role of electrostatics and other membrane biophysical properties.Biophysical reviews · 2025Review
- Membrane lipid nanodomains modulate HCN pacemaker channels in nociceptor DRG neurons.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Statistical Thermodynamic Description of Self-Assembly of Large Inclusions in Biological Membranes.Current issues in molecular biology · 2024Article
- Coupling liquid phases in 3D condensates and 2D membranes: Successes, challenges, and tools.Biophysical journal · 2024Review
- Evidence for widespread cytoplasmic structuring into mesoscale condensates.Nature cell biology · 2024Article
- Dipping contacts - a novel type of contact site at the interface between membraneless organelles and membranes.Journal of cell science · 2023Article
- The Membrane Phase Transition Gives Rise to Responsive Plasma Membrane Structure and Function.Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology · 2023Review
- PDMS as a Substrate for Lipid Bilayers.Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids · 2023Article
- Phase Transitions of Associative Biomacromolecules.Chemical reviews · 2023Review
- DNA-Origami Line-Actants Control Domain Organization and Fission in Synthetic Membranes.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2023Article
- Molecular simulations and NMR reveal how lipid fluctuations affect membrane mechanics.Biophysical journal · 2023Article
- The plasma membrane as an adaptable fluid mosaic.Biochimica et biophysica acta. Biomembranes · 2023Review
- Pattern Formation in Two-Component Monolayers of Particles with Competing Interactions.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
49 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Scaling laws associated with critical points have the power to greatly simplify our description of complex biophysical systems. We first review basic concepts and equations associated with critical phenomena for the general reader. We then apply these concepts to the specific biophysical system of lipid membranes. We recently reported that lipid membranes can contain composition fluctuations that behave in a manner consistent with the two-dimensional Ising universality class. Near the membrane's critical point, these fluctuations are micron-sized, clearly observable by fluorescence microscopy. At higher temperatures, above the critical point, we expect to find submicron fluctuations. In separate work, we have reported that plasma membranes isolated directly from cells exhibit the same Ising behavior as model membranes do. We review other models describing submicron lateral inhomogeneity in membranes, including microemulsions, nanodomains, and mean field critical fluctuations, and we describe experimental tests that may distinguish these models.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.