Imaging the opposite side of lipid raft

脂筏是一种富含鞘脂和胆固醇的质膜脂域。尽管脂筏参与了多种生理现象，但脂筏的详细结构尚不清楚。我们已经开发出能与脂筏特异结合的新型蛋白质探针。利用这些探针和先进的显微镜技术，我们证明了脂类第二信使二酰甘油的跨双层运动受神经鞘磷脂的调节。我们的结果还表明，在培养的成纤维细胞的质膜的外叶和内叶中都存在富含鞘磷脂的膜域。

Lipid raft is a plasma membrane lipid domain enriched with sphingolipids and cholesterol. Although lipid rafts are involved in various physiological phenomena, the detailed structures of lipid rafts are not well elucidated. We have developed novel protein probes that specifically bind lipid rafts. Using these probes and advanced microscope techniques, we showed that the transbilayer movement of lipid second messenger, diacylglycerol, is regulated by sphingomyelin. Our results also indicate the existence of sphingomyelin-rich membrane domains in both outer and inner leaflet of the plasma membranes from cultured fibroblasts.