Properties of the membrane phase

Abstract

This book about the function of biological membranes starts with the assumption that the reader knows where membranes are found in living matter, has some idea of their thickness and appearance under the electron microscope after conventional fixation, staining, dehydration and embedding, and is wondering how the ubiquitous double track (dark, light, dark), and structures closely associated with it, fulfil the selective barrier properties so generally attributed to them. The philosophy which underlies this book is that if we want to understand biological membranes, we ought to think about, and experiment on them, as biochemists, yet be mindful whenever we can of two contexts, the conceptual framework of physicochemical principles which delimit that which is possible, and the physiological framework of discovered relationships which characterise that which has been sucessful in evolution.