Structure and Function of Plasma Membrane

The plasma membrane (also known as the cell membrane or cytoplasmic membrane) is a biological
membrane that separates the interior of a cell from its outside environment.

The primary function of the plasma membrane is to protect the cell from its surroundings. Composed of a
phospholipid bilayer with embedded proteins, the plasma membrane is selectively permeable to ions and organic
molecules and regulates the movement of substances in and out of cells. Plasma membranes must be very flexible in
order to allow certain cells, such as red blood cells and white blood cells, to change shape as they pass through
narrow capillaries.

The plasma membrane also plays a role in anchoring the cytoskeleton to provide shape to the cell, and in
attaching to the extracellular matrix and other cells to help group cells together to form tissues. The membrane also
maintains the cell potential.

In short, if the cell is represented by a castle, the plasma membrane is the wall that provides structure for the
buildings inside the wall, regulates which people leave and enter the castle, and conveys messages to and from
neighboring castles. Just as a hole in the wall can be a disaster for the castle, a rupture in the plasma membrane
causes the cell to lyse and die.
Fluid mosaic model

The currently accepted model for the structure of the plasma membrane, called the fluid mosaic model, was first
proposed in 1972. This model has evolved over time, but it still provides a good basic description of the structure and
behavior of membranes in many cells.

According to the fluid mosaic model, the plasma membrane is a mosaic of components—primarily, phospholipids,
cholesterol, and proteins—that move freely and fluidly in the plane of the membrane. In other words, a diagram of
the membrane (like the one below) is just a snapshot of a dynamic process in which phospholipids and proteins are
continually sliding past one another.

Interestingly enough, this fluidity means that if you insert a very fine needle into a cell, the membrane will simply
part to flow around the needle; once the needle is removed, the membrane will flow back together seamlessly.

Image modified from OpenStax Biology.

The principal components of the plasma membrane are lipids (phospholipids and cholesterol), proteins, and
carbohydrate groups that are attached to some of the lipids and proteins.

 A phospholipid is a lipid made of glycerol, two fatty acid tails, and a phosphate-linked head group. Biological
membranes usually involve two layers of phospholipids with their tails pointing inward, an arrangement
called a phospholipid bilayer.

 Cholesterol, another lipid composed of four fused carbon rings, is found alongside phospholipids in the core
of the membrane.

 Membrane proteins may extend partway into the plasma membrane, cross the membrane entirely, or be
loosely attached to its inside or outside face.

 Carbohydrate groups are present only on the outer surface of the plasma membrane and are attached to
proteins, forming glycoproteins, or lipids, forming glycolipids.

The proportions of proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates in the plasma membrane vary between different types
of cells. For a typical human cell, however, proteins account for about 50 percent of the composition by mass, lipids
(of all types) account for about 40 percent, and the remaining 10 percent comes from carbohydrates.

Phospholipids

Phospholipids, arranged in a bilayer, make up the basic fabric of the plasma membrane. They are well-suited
for this role because they are amphipathic, meaning that they have both hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions.
Image credit: OpenStax Biology.

The hydrophilic, or “water-loving,” portion of a phospholipid is its head, which contains a negatively charged
phosphate group as well as an additional small group (of varying identity, “R” in the diagram at left), which may also
or be charged or polar. The hydrophilic heads of phospholipids in a membrane bilayer face outward, contacting the
aqueous (watery) fluid both inside and outside the cell. Since water is a polar molecule, it readily forms electrostatic
(charge-based) interactions with the phospholipid heads.

The hydrophobic, or “water-fearing,” part of a phospholipid consists of its long, nonpolar fatty acid tails. The fatty
acid tails can easily interact with other nonpolar molecules, but they interact poorly with water. Because of this, it’s
more energetically favorable for the phospholipids to tuck their fatty acid tails away in the interior of the membrane,
where they are shielded from the surrounding water. The phospholipid bilayer formed by these interactions makes a
good barrier between the interior and exterior of the cell, because water and other polar or charged substances
cannot easily cross the hydrophobic core of the membrane.

Can water cross the plasma membrane at all?

Image credit: modification of work by OpenStax Biology, originally by Mariana Ruiz Villareal.

Thanks to their amphipathic nature, phospholipids aren’t just well-suited to form a membrane bilayer. Instead, this is
something they’ll do spontaneously under the right conditions! In water or aqueous solution, phospholipids tend to
arrange themselves with their hydrophobic tails facing each other and their hydrophilic heads facing out. If the
phospholipids have small tails, they may form a micelle (a small, single-layered sphere), while if they have bulkier
tails, they may form a liposome (a hollow droplet of bilayer membrane)\[^2\].

`Proteins

Proteins are the second major component of plasma membranes. There are two main categories of
membrane proteins: integral and peripheral.

Image credit: image modified from OpenStax Biology, originally by Foobar/Wikimedia Commons.

Integral membrane proteins are, as their name suggests, integrated into the membrane: they have at least
one hydrophobic region that anchors them to the hydrophobic core of the phospholipid bilayer. Some stick only
partway into the membrane, while others stretch from one side of the membrane to the other and are exposed on
either side\[^1\]. Proteins that extend all the way across the membrane are called transmembrane proteins.

The portions of an integral membrane protein found inside the membrane are hydrophobic, while those that
are exposed to the cytoplasm or extracellular fluid tend to be hydrophilic. Transmembrane proteins may cross the
membrane just once, or may have as many as twelve different membrane-spanning sections. A typical membrane-
spanning segment consists of 20-25 hydrophobic amino acids arranged in an alpha helix, although not all
transmembrane proteins fit this model. Some integral membrane proteins form a channel that allows ions or other
small molecules to pass, as shown below.

_Image credit: "Components and structure: Figure 1," by OpenStax College, Biology (CC BY 3.0)._

Peripheral membrane proteins are found on the outside and inside surfaces of membranes, attached either
to integral proteins or to phospholipids. Unlike integral membrane proteins, peripheral membrane proteins do not
stick into the hydrophobic core of the membrane, and they tend to be more loosely attached.

Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are the third major component of plasma membranes. In general, they are found on the outside
surface of cells and are bound either to proteins (forming glycoproteins) or to lipids (forming glycolipids). These
carbohydrate chains may consist of 2-60 monosaccharide units and can be either straight or branched.

Along with membrane proteins, these carbohydrates form distinctive cellular markers, sort of like molecular ID
badges, that allow cells to recognize each other. These markers are very important in the immune system, allowing
immune cells to differentiate between body cells, which they shouldn’t attack, and foreign cells or tissues, which they
should.

Membrane fluidity

The structure of the fatty acid tails of the phospholipids is important in determining the properties of the membrane,
and in particular, how fluid it is.

Saturated fatty acids have no double bonds (are saturated with hydrogens), so they are relatively
straight. Unsaturated fatty acids, on the other hand, contain one or more double bonds, often resulting in a bend or
kink. (You can see an example of a bent, unsaturated tail in the diagram of phospholipid structure that appears
earlier in this article.) The saturated and unsaturated fatty acid tails of phospholipids behave differently as
temperature drops:

 At cooler temperatures, the straight tails of saturated fatty acids can pack tightly together, making a dense
and fairly rigid membrane.

 Phospholipids with unsaturated fatty acid tails cannot pack together as tightly because of the bent structure
of the tails. Because of this, a membrane containing unsaturated phospholipids will stay fluid at lower
temperatures than a membrane made of saturated ones.

Most cell membranes contain a mixture of phospholipids, some with two saturated (straight) tails and others with
one saturated and one unsaturated (bent) tail. Many organisms—fish are one example—can adjust physiologically to
cold environments by changing the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids in their membranes. For more information
about saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, see the article on lipids.

In addition to phospholipids, animals have an additional membrane component that helps to maintain
fluidity. Cholesterol, another type of lipid that is embedded among the phospholipids of the membrane, helps to
minimize the effects of temperature on fluidity.

At low temperatures, cholesterol increases fluidity by keeping phospholipids from packing tightly together, while at
high temperatures, it actually reduces fluidity\[^{3,4}\]. In this way, cholesterol expands the range of temperatures at
which a membrane maintains a functional, healthy fluidity.

The components of the plasma membrane

Phospholipids Main fabric of the membrane

Cholesterol Tucked between the hydrophobic tails of the membrane phospholipids

Integral proteins Embedded in the phospholipid bilayer; may or may not extend through both layers

Peripheral On the inner or outer surface of the phospholipid bilayer, but not embedded in its
proteins hydrophobic core

Attached to proteins or lipids on the extracellular side of the membrane (forming