Cholesterol is crucial to the formation of the cell membranes of mammals and is part of many life processes. One of the most controversial concepts in biophysics is the hypothesis of the so-called lipid rafts: areas of high concentrations of cholesterol and glycosphingolipids in membranes. These lipid rafts, also known as lipid microdomains, are areas of the cell membrane in which lipids and cholesterol accumulate and play an important role in cell function. Currently, the presence of lipid rafts in live cells is only a hypothesis because although various laboratory studies have attempted to simulate them by mixing two types of lipid and cholesterol, none has managed to detect them or determine whether they really exist, how they are formed and how they function in live cells.
Click here for original story, A new model has been developed that simulates the accumulation of lipids in membranes
Source: Phys.org