FIG. 1.

Composition of membrane lipids and their chemical structures. Lipid rafts (LRs) may consist of dynamic assemblies of cholesterol and lipids with saturated fatty acid chains such as sphingolipids and glycosphingolipids in the exoplasmic leaflet of the membrane bilayer. In addition, phospholipids with saturated fatty acids and cholesterol in the inner leaflet. Here depicted are structures of two sphingolipids including sphingomyelin and glycosphingolipids (GSL), cholesterol, and phospholipid-phosphatidylcholine.