BIOL 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Membrane Fluidity, Lipid Bilayer, Close-Packing Of Equal Spheres
Document Summary
The physical state of the lipid bilayer is described by its fluidity or viscosity. If the temperature of the bilayer is kept relatively warm, at 37 degree celsius, the. The lipid is best described as a two-dimensional lipid crystal. If the temperature is slowly lowered, a point is reached where the bilayer would. The lipid is converted from a liquid crystalline phase to a frozen crystalline gel in. The temperature at which this change occurs is known as transition. Phospholipid with saturated fatty acid pack tightly than those containing. The greater the degree of unsaturation of the fatty acids of the bilayer, the lower. The shorter the fatty acyl chains of a phospholipid, the lower its melting. The physical state of the membrane is also affected by cholesterol, because of. Cholesterol molecules disrupt the close packing of the fatty acyl chains and. The presence of cholesterol tends to abolish the sharp transition temperatures.
