Plasma membrane lipid raft

Plasma membrane lipid rafts are **cholesterol- and sphingolipid-rich, highly dynamic microdomains** within the plasma membrane that compartmentalize cellular processes by serving as organizing centers for signaling assemblies, membrane trafficking, and protein sorting[1][3][5]. Their existence and precise definition are still debated, but substantial evidence supports their role in facilitating signal transduction, vesicle formation, axon guidance, immune responses, and pathogen entry[1][2][4][6]. Lipid rafts are implicated in health and disease across a range of physiological and pathological processes, but they *do not represent a discrete protein target* and thus are unclassifiable in the same sense as a single receptor or enzyme.

Other names

Lipid raftsmembrane raftsdetergent-insoluble glycolipid-enriched membrane complex (GEM)detergent-resistant membrane (DRM)non-caveolar raftcaveola (for the invaginated subtype)

Cholesterol depletion/disruptors: Disruption of lipid rafts affects signaling by mislocalizing raft-associated proteins