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NCBI Bookshelf. A service of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

Cooper GM. The Cell: A Molecular Approach. 2nd edition. Sunderland (MA): Sinauer Associates; 2000.

Structure of the Plasma Membrane

Like all other cellular membranes, the plasma membrane consists of both lipids and proteins. The
fundamental structure of the membrane is the phospholipid bilayer, which forms a stable barrier
between two aqueous compartments. In the case of the plasma membrane, these compartments
are the inside and the outside of the cell. Proteins embedded within the phospholipid bilayer
carry out the specific functions of the plasma membrane, including selective transport of
molecules and cell-cell recognition.

The Phospholipid Bilayer

The plasma membrane is the most thoroughly studied of all cell membranes, and it is largely
through investigations of the plasma membrane that our current concepts of membrane structure
have evolved. The plasma membranes of mammalian red blood cells (erythrocytes) have been
particularly useful as a model for studies of membrane structure. Mammalian red blood cells do
not contain nuclei or internal membranes, so they represent a source from which pure plasma
membranes can be easily isolated for biochemical analysis. Indeed, studies of the red blood cell
plasma membrane provided the first evidence that biological membranes consist of lipid bilayers.
In 1925, two Dutch scientists (E. Gorter and R. Grendel) extracted the membrane lipids from a
known number of red blood cells, corresponding to a known surface area of plasma membrane.
They then determined the surface area occupied by a monolayer of the extracted lipid spread out
at an air-water interface. The surface area of the lipid monolayer turned out to be twice that
occupied by the erythrocyte plasma membranes, leading to the conclusion that the membranes
consisted of lipid bilayers rather than monolayers.

The bilayer structure of the erythrocyte plasma membrane is clearly evident in high-
magnification electron micrographs (Figure 12.1). The plasma membrane appears as two dense
lines separated by an intervening space—a morphology frequently referred to as a “railroad
track” appearance. This image results from the binding of the electron-dense heavy metals used
as stains in transmission electron microscopy (see Chapter 1) to the polar head groups of the
phospholipids, which therefore appear as dark lines. These dense lines are separated by the
lightly stained interior portion of the membrane, which contains the hydrophobic fatty acid
chains.

Figure 12.1

Bilayer structure of the plasma membrane. Electron

micrograph of a human red blood cell. Note the railroad track
appearance of the plasma membrane. (Courtesy of J. David
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