Mouritsen Ole G
MEMPHYS-Center for Biomembrane Physics, Department of Physics and Chemistry, University of Southern Denmark, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2010 Jul;1798(7):1286-8. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2010.02.017. Epub 2010 Feb 17.
Biomembranes are unique states of soft matter that share some of their materials properties with the mesophases of liquid crystals. Although of genuinely fluid character, membranes can display ordered states under physiological conditions, and it appears that their lateral organization and the related functional properties are intimately coupled to states in-between order and disorder. Hence, the liquid-ordered state of membranes, which owes its existence to the unique ability of cholesterol to mediate between order and disorder, has moved center stage in the characterization of membranes in terms of domains or rafts.
生物膜是软物质的独特状态，与液晶中间相具有一些共同的材料特性。尽管具有真正的流体特性，但膜在生理条件下可以呈现有序状态，并且它们的侧向组织和相关的功能特性似乎与介于有序和无序之间的状态密切相关。因此，膜的液晶有序态因其独特的能力而存在，即胆固醇能够在有序和无序之间起介导作用，这使得膜在域或筏的表征方面成为核心。
