Phospholipid vesicle and cellular membrane

Phospholipid vesicles and cellular membranes are supramolecular assemblies consisting of a lipid bilayer that serves as the primary structural boundary for all living cells and organelles. These membranes are essential for maintaining cellular homeostasis, facilitating signal transduction, and regulating the transport of ions and metabolites through embedded proteins and specialized lipid domains (Alberts et al., 2002). In the context of pharmacology, the membrane itself acts as a direct therapeutic target for several classes of drugs, particularly antimicrobials and anesthetics. For example, certain antibiotics and antifungals exploit differences in lipid composition between pathogens and hosts—such as the presence of ergosterol in fungi or highly anionic lipids in bacteria—to selectively disrupt the membrane, leading to cell lysis or metabolic collapse (Gray et al., 2014; Humphries et al., 2013). Beyond infectious diseases, membrane lipid therapy is an emerging field focusing on modulating membrane composition and fluidity to treat cancer and neurodegenerative disorders (Escribá et al., 2008).

Other names

Lipid bilayerPlasma membraneCytoplasmic membranePhospholipid bilayerCell membrane

Drugs targeting phospholipid membranes typically act by disrupting the structural integrity of the lipid bilayer, forming transmembrane pores, or altering membrane fluidity and curvature. For instance, polyene antifungals bind to membrane sterols to create ion-leaking channels, while lipopeptide antibiotics insert into the bilayer to cause rapid depolarization and loss of membrane potential.