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Functional marriage in plasma membrane: Critical cholesterol level–optimal protein activity
Author(s) -
Meza Ulises,
DelgadoRamírez Mayra,
RomeroMéndez Catalina,
SánchezArmass Sergio,
RodríguezMenchaca Aldo A.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
british journal of pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.432
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1476-5381
pISSN - 0007-1188
DOI - 10.1111/bph.15027
Subject(s) - transmembrane protein , cholesterol , membrane protein , transmembrane domain , homeostasis , membrane , chemistry , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , basal (medicine) , biochemistry , biophysics , endocrinology , receptor , insulin
In physiology, homeostasis refers to the condition where a system exhibits an optimum functional level. In contrast, any variation from this optimum is considered as a dysfunctional or pathological state. In this review, we address the proposal that a critical cholesterol level in the plasma membrane is required for the proper functioning of transmembrane proteins. Thus, membrane cholesterol depletion or enrichment produces a loss or gain of direct cholesterol–protein interaction and/or changes in the physical properties of the plasma membrane, which affect the basal or optimum activity of transmembrane proteins. Whether or not this functional switching is a generalized mechanism exhibited for all transmembrane proteins, or if it works just for an exclusive group of them, is an open question and an attractive subject to explore at a basic, pharmacological and clinical level.