Essays on Lipid Bilayer

{Author Name [first-name middle-name-initials last-name]} {Institution Affiliation [name of Author’s institute]} All drug delivery systems (DDS) use the nanostructures as drug containers. There are various types of these nanocontainers such as polymeric liposomal nanoparticles, carbon nanostructures, magnetic nanoparticles and polymeric micelles (Singh and Lillard, 2009; Zarogoulidis et al., 2012). The mode of action of these nanostructures on the target site and the molecular proceedings occurring during this process provides a mechanistic foundation for drug discovery against cancerous developments. The several considerable points that an anti-cancer agent should have are targeted delivery to the impacted cells, least activity loss, ...

Membrane transport refers to the mechanisms by which ions and other small molecules move across the lipid bilayer of the plasma membrane. The lipid bilayer of the plasma membrane allows the passage of certain molecules down their concentration gradient. This passage depends on the charge, size and polarity of the molecule. Non-polar molecules and small polar molecules diffuse easily across the cell membrane by the process of simple diffusion. However, it becomes difficult for charged polar molecules to enter the cell even though the concentration of the ion is more outside the cell when compared to the cytosol. At ...

Introduction

The term lipids is used to refer to a group of organic compounds that are naturally occurring and that are all soluble in non-organic solvents such as benzene , chloroform, acetone and ether but not soluble in water. The later characteristic means that lipids can also be defined as amphiphilic or hydrophobic small modules. This amphophilic nature of lipids essentially allows them to be able to form structures such as liposome’s, vesicles or membranes when subjected to aqueous environments. The biological lipids mainly originate from two major build-blocks or biochemical sub-units: isoprene and ketoacyl groups. Another distinct characteristic of lipids ...

“Abstract”

Cholesterol plays a pivotal role in the fluidity of plasma membrane in cells. Evidence of cholesterol evolution from lanosterol suggests that cholesterol has little sensitivity to changes in temperature as opposed to lanosterol. Simulations also revealed that there is no ld-lo coexistence and 3-phase lines in lipid/lanosterol systems as opposed to lipid/cholesterol systems. The sterol also favors a strong interaction with lipids having saturated acyl chains (Miao et al.) which is a key factor in understanding and characterizing the lipid bilayer model. Based on surface potential measurements, cholesterol and ergosterol reduce the penetration of water into the lipid monolayer. Results revealed that excess ...

BBB functions and physiology: The central nervous system (CNS) necessitates a highly controlled environment for its proper functioning. Blood brain barrier is the system which maintains the homeostasis of the CNS. It works by separating and shielding the brain from the constant changes in the nutrient and chemical composition of systemic blood. It protects the brain tissue from harmful chemicals that might be present in the blood. The key functions of the BBB are transport of nutrients from the blood to brain and metabolites in opposite direction to systemic circulation. Only a small number of molecules are allowed access through the ...