ReviewBiology direct2014
Once upon a time the cell membranes: 175 years of cell boundary research.
Review in Biology direct, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
55 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Metabolomics and lipidomics studies of parasitic helminths: molecular diversity and identification levels achieved by using different characterisation tools.Metabolomics : Official journal of the Metabolomic Society · 2023Pooled it
- The Fluid Mosaic Model of chromatin organization: integrating dynamics, conformational heterogeneity and multiscale organization.Communications biology · 2026Review
- Why is this journal called Protoplasma? A history of protoplasm theory and the divisions in cell biology before 1926.Protoplasma · 2026Review
- Early Transition Metal-Based Antitumor Complexes.Chemistry, an Asian journal · 2026Review
- Plasma membrane transbilayer asymmetry of PI(4,5)PNature communications · 2025Article
- Engineering Extracellular Microenvironments: The Impact of Fibrous Materials on Cell Behavior.Advanced healthcare materials · 2025Review
- Abiotic lipid metabolism enables membrane plasticity in artificial cells.Nature chemistry · 2025Article
- Phase Behavior of Binary Mixtures of SOPC and Cholesterol.ACS omega · 2025Review
- Permeability selection of biologically relevant membranes matches the stereochemistry of life on Earth.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Involvement of Lipids and Lipid Mediators in Inflammation and Atherogenesis.Current medicinal chemistry · 2025Review
- Phosphorus: Chronicles of the epistemology of a vital element.Clinical nephrology · 2024Article
- An Up-to-Date Overview of Liquid Crystals and Liquid Crystal Polymers for Different Applications: A Review.Polymers · 2024Review
- Cell Membrane Tension Gradients, Membrane Flows, and Cellular Processes.Physiology (Bethesda, Md.) · 2024Review
- Acetyl-CoA carboxylase obstructs CD8Cell metabolism · 2024Article
- Influence of Diffusion Time and Temperature on Restricted Diffusion Signal: A Phantom Study.Magnetic resonance in medical sciences : MRMS : an official journal of Japan Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine · 2024Article
- The intricate link between membrane lipid structure and composition and membrane structural properties in bacterial membranes.Chemical science · 2024Review
- RETRACTED ARTICLE: Generation of long-chain fatty acids by hydrogen-driven bicarbonate reduction in ancient alkaline hydrothermal vents.Communications earth & environment · 2024Article
- Review of Eukaryote Cellular Membrane Lipid Composition, with Special Attention to the Fatty Acids.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Paradoxes of Cellular SUMOylation Regulation: A Role of Biomolecular Condensates?Pharmacological reviews · 2023Review
- Membrane linked RNA glycosylation as new trend to envision epi-transcriptome epoch.Cancer gene therapy · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
All modern cells are bounded by cell membranes best described by the fluid mosaic model. This statement is so widely accepted by biologists that little attention is generally given to the theoretical importance of cell membranes in describing the cell. This has not always been the case. When the Cell Theory was first formulated in the XIX(th) century, almost nothing was known about the cell membranes. It was not until well into the XX(th) century that the existence of the plasma membrane was broadly accepted and, even then, the fluid mosaic model did not prevail until the 1970s. How were the cell boundaries considered between the articulation of the Cell Theory around 1839 and the formulation of the fluid mosaic model that has described the cell membranes since 1972? In this review I will summarize the major historical discoveries and theories that tackled the existence and structure of membranes and I will analyze how these theories impacted the understanding of the cell. Apart from its purely historical relevance, this account can provide a starting point for considering the theoretical significance of membranes to the definition of the cell and could have implications for research on early life.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.