Abstract
The fluid mosaic model of biomembrane was published in Science 15 years ago. The model was constructed by Singer and Nicolson based on the previous results obtained by thermodynamics, cell biology, spin labeling method, X-ray diffraction, freeze-fracture electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and so on. Almost all knowledges about biomembranes were reflected in the model by their careful consideration. And the basic concept is true even in our day.
Since the model appeared, a lot of results have been obtained in the studies of biomembranes. The present review describes the progress and the prospect of biomembrane research by forcusing on the physical properties of biomembranes.
In the first section, the author mentions the background of the fluid mosaic model. In the next, the results obtained by various methods are shown with their recent development in the instruments; spin labeling, NMR, X-ray diffraction, fluorometry and electron microscopy. The last section refers three topics which are the structure of membrane protein, the mechanism of stimulus-response coupling in cells, and the micro-domain structure of biomembrane.
