ArticleBioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology2023
The asymmetric plasma membrane-A composite material combining different functionalities?: Balancing Barrier Function and Fluidity for Effective Signaling.
Article in BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Human Endothelial Membrane as a Structural Prototype: A Comparative Analysis withInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Dynamics and Structural Responses to Cis-Trans Isomerization in Bacterial Lipid Bilayers.ACS omega · 2026Article
- Inside the membrane: a closer look using elastic scattering techniques and friends.European biophysics journal : EBJ · 2025Review
- The endothelial plasma membrane lipidome and its remodeling under hyperglycemia: an exploratory study.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2025Article
- The asymmetric plasma membrane-A composite material combining different functionalities?: Balancing Barrier Function and Fluidity for Effective Signaling.BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2023Article
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2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
One persistent puzzle in the life sciences is the asymmetric lipid composition of the cellular plasma membrane: while the exoplasmic leaflet is enriched in lipids carrying predominantly saturated fatty acids, the cytoplasmic leaflet hosts preferentially lipids with (poly-)unsaturated fatty acids. Given the high energy requirements necessary for cells to maintain this asymmetry, the question naturally arises regarding its inherent benefits. In this paper, we propose asymmetry to represent a potential solution for harmonizing two conflicting requirements for the plasma membrane: first, the need to build a barrier for the uncontrolled influx or efflux of substances; and second, the need to form a fluid and dynamic two-dimensional substrate for signaling processes. We hence view here the plasma membrane as a composite material, where the exoplasmic leaflet is mainly responsible for the functional integrity of the barrier and the cytoplasmic leaflet for fluidity. We reinforce the validity of the proposed mechanism by presenting quantitative data from the literature, along with multiple examples that bolster our model.
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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.