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. 1973 Aug;13(8):807–816. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(73)86027-8

What Component of the Living Cell Is Responsible for Its Semipermeable Properties? Polarized Water or Lipids?

Gilbert N Ling
PMCID: PMC1484329  PMID: 4542213

Abstract

A close correlation (r = +0.96) exists between the permeability (at 0°, 4°, and 25°C) of H2O and nine other hydroxylic nonelectrolytes through reversed frog skin and through synthetic cellulose-acetate sheets. By the method of least squares, the data yield the following relation: log (Pfrog skin) = 0.9900 log (Pcellulose acetate) -0.1659. Both the reversed frog skin and the cellulose-acetate sheets are semipermeable (while the lipoid membrane is not), showing higher permeability to water than to any other solute used in this series. The data offer support for the theory that it is not lipid, but water polarized in multilayers by cellular proteins, that provides the living cell with its selective surface barrier.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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