Two-dimensional receptor patterns in the plasma membrane of cells. A critical evaluation of their identification, origin and information content

• Published in: Biophysical chemistry 1999-12, Vol.82 (2), p.99-108
• Main Authors: Damjanovich, Sándor, Bene, László, Matkó, János, Mátyus, László, Krasznai, Zoltán, Szabó, Gábor, Pieri, Carlo, Gáspár, Rezsö, Szöllösi, János
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cell-surface organization; Electron microscopy; Fluorescence energy transfer; Receptor patterns; Scanning force microscopy
• ISSN: 0301-4622; 1873-4200
• DOI: 10.1016/S0301-4622(99)00109-X

A concise review is presented on the nature, possible origin and functional significance of cell surface receptor patterns in the plasma membrane of lymphoid cells. A special emphasize has been laid on the available methodological approaches, their individual virtues and sources of errors. Fluorescence energy transfer is one of the oldest available means for studying non-randomized co-distribution patterns of cell surface receptors. A detailed and critical description is given on the generation of two-dimensional cell surface receptor patterns based on pair-wise energy transfer measurements. A second hierarchical-level of receptor clusters have been described by electron and scanning force microscopies after immuno-gold-labeling of distinct receptor kinds. The origin of these receptor islands at a nanometer scale and island groups at a higher hierarchical (μm) level, has been explained mostly by detergent insoluble glycolipid-enriched complexes known as rafts, or detergent insoluble glycolipids (DIGs). These rafts are the most-likely organizational forces behind at least some kind of receptor clustering [K. Simons et al., Nature 387 (1997) 569]. These models, which have great significance in trans-membrane signaling and intra-membrane and intracellular trafficking, are accentuating the necessity to revisit the Singer–Nicolson fluid mosaic membrane model and substitute the free protein diffusion with a restricted diffusion concept [S.J. Singer et al., Science 175 (1972) 720].