Imaging the opposite side of lipid raft

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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.