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Cell membrane

What are the factors which effect the fluidity of cell membrane other than cholesterol and saturation of phospholipids and cholesterol ?

Reply 1

chickensthatfly

Hi, several factors that affect membrane fluidity:

-Temperature
Lipids acquire thermal energy when they are heated up; energetic lipids move around more, arranging randomly, fluidity increases.
As temp decreases, membrane fluidity decreases, because phopholipids settle into a closely packed arrangement and membrane solidifies. This is called phase transition.

-Length of fatty acid.
The longer the hydrocarbon chains, the higher the melting point.

-Degree of saturation of fatty acids.
Unsaturated lipids have kinks that will prevent hydrocarbon chain from packing closely together, hence increases fluidity.

-Amount of cholesterol.
Cholesterol increases stability and maintains fluidity of membrane.

That's about all i think. Hope this helps! :smile: