Two types of lipid rafts have been proposed: planar lipid rafts (also referred to as non-caveolar, or glycolipid, rafts) and caveolae. Planar rafts are defined as being continuous with the plane of the plasma membrane (not invaginated) and by their lack of distinguishing morphological features.

In a simplified way, lipid rafts are solid regions of plasma membrane embedded into (or floating in) predominantly fluid membrane. They are small and often short-lived; they are heterogeneous in just about any parameter, and yet, they are distinct.

Nov 14, 2003 · These microdomains are usually called lipid rafts, and many papers have suggested that rafts play a role in a wide range of important biological processes, including numerous signal transduction pathways, apoptosis, cell adhesion and migration, synaptic transmission, organization of the cytoskeleton, and protein sorting during both exocytosis ...

Lipid rafts are dynamic assemblies of proteins and lipids that float freely within the liquid-disordered bilayer of cellular membranes but can also cluster to form larger, ordered platforms. Rafts are receiving increasing attention as devices that regulate membrane function in …

Since formation of lipid rafts relies on generation of sphingolipids and sterol biosynthesis inhibition or silencing of enzymes in metabolism of the two lipid classes will affect raft and DRM distribution as well as cell signaling pathways regulated by raft-associated lipids and proteins.

Jan 1, 2010 · Lipid rafts are fluctuating nanoscale assemblies of sphingolipid, cholesterol, and proteins that can be stabilized to coalesce, forming platforms that function in membrane signaling and trafficking.

Mar 30, 2017 · Lipid rafts are relatively ordered membrane domains that are enriched in cholesterol and saturated lipids, and selectively recruit other lipids and proteins.

Apr 29, 2020 · Between these regimes is the mesoscale organization of cellular membranes into lipid-driven domains termed lipid rafts. This ultrastructural organization has fascinated and baffled a...

Oct 1, 2000 · It is now becoming clear that lipid micro-environments on the cell surface — known as lipid rafts — also take part in this process. Lipid rafts containing a given set of proteins can change...

Feb 19, 2020 · Here, we review the conceptual underpinnings of the raft hypothesis and critically discuss the supporting and contradicting evidence in cells, focusing on why controversies about the composition, properties, and even the very existence of lipid rafts remain unresolved.