SYNTHESIS PAPER

(What happens when the integrity of plasma membrane is lost?)

All mammalian cells have evolved membrane repair machinery that works
constantly to ensure membrane integrity. Such a pervasive presence throughout the
human body and across species emphasizes how crucial membrane health is uttermost
importance for cell survival. Maintenance of plasma membrane integrity is essential for
normal cell viability and function.

A break in integrity of the plasma membrane immediately compromises this

structure’s essential role as a barrier, and this can kill the affected cell. Yet animal call
plasma membranes, unprotected by a cell wall, are highly vulnerable to mechanically
induced disruption. The plasma membrane is the part of the cell that regulates the
entry and exit of certain molecules. If the integrity of the membrane is lost, certain
things that should not be not be getting in may enter; and certain things should not
leave are leaking out.

Moreover, many tissue environments generate and receive “physiological” levels

of mechanical force that impose shear, tensile, and compressive stresses on constituent
cells.