BIOLOGY Volume 1 - A Guide to General Biology - 2004

5. CELLS

5.9. Cell membranes

5.9.2. Membranes contain proteins and lipids

Early work on membrane permeability showed that organic Solvents, such as alcohol, ether, or chloroform, penetrate membranes even faster than Water. This indicated that membranes possess a non-polar component; in other words, that they contain Lipids. Later, this assumption was confirmed by chemical analysis, which revealed that membranes consist almost entirely of Proteins and lipids. We will discuss proteins below. The lipids in membranes are predominantly Phospholipids.



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