Tuesday, July 24, 2012

word of the day: plasmalemma

The word of the day is plasmalemma:

Etymology:  < plasma n. + lemma n.2  
 
A lipid bilayer surrounding the cytoplasm of a cell; a plasma membrane, a cell membrane; esp. one immediately within the wall of a plant cell. (OED)


"The inner surface of the plasma membrane is rich in phsophatidylserine, making the erythrocyte inside-out vesicle a good model for studying the translocation of diacylglycerol kinase and protein kinase C from cytosol to the inner aspect of the plasmalemma."

 - Besterman et al., "Diacylglycerol-induced translocation of diacylglycerol kinase: Use of affinity-purified enzyme in a reconstitution system", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 83:9378 (1986).


These days I think we use the term "plasma membrane", but, if you are going to use plasmalemma, I do wholeheartedly endorse the use of the plural plasmalemmata.  (Maybe if you're talking about intercellular interactions?)

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