Lipid rafts-discrete regions in cell membranes that are rich in cholesterol and sphingolipids-are emerging not only as pivotal command and control centers for cellular signaling processes, but also as central to a wide array of human diseases, including immune disorders, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer's disease. In Membrane Microdomain Signaling: Lipid Rafts in Biology and Medicine, multidisciplinary experts offer cutting-edge reviews of our current understanding of these membrane microdomains and their physiological and pathological roles. Here, readers will discover how lipid rafts change in cells over time and how they respond to various environmental signals, how cholesterol modulates the signaling function of lipid rafts, and how lipid rafts, the extracellular matrix, and the cell cytoskeleton structurally interact. Also described are the role of lipid rafts in learning, memory, and cancer, and as portals for endocytic uptake of an anticancer- and apoptotic alkyl-lysophospholipid. The authors also present emerging evidence that lipid rafts play critical roles in signaling pathways and the regulation of synaptic function in the nervous system, and that alterations in lipid raft metabolism are implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders. They also describe techniques for the isolation of lipid rafts, the analysis of the lipid and protein components of lipid rafts, the imaging of lipid rafts in living cells, and the analysis of signal transduction in lipid rafts.Comprehensive and insightful, Membrane Microdomain Signaling: Lipid Rafts in Biology and Medicine offers researchers a multidisciplinary review of the latest basic, translational, and clinical research that promises to transform our understanding microdomain signaling mechanisms.

From Intramolecular Asymmetries to Raft Assemblies.- Regulatory Aspects of Membrane Microdomain (Raft) Dynamics in Live Cells.- Lipid Raft Membrane Skeletons.- Role of Cholesterol in Membrane Microdomain Signaling.- Raft Lipid Metabolism in Relation to Alkyl-Lysophospholipid-Induced Apoptosis.- The Role of Lipid Rafts in Signal Transduction and Synaptic Plasticity of Neural Cells.- Role of Rafts in Virus Fusion and Budding.- Alterations in Raft Lipid Metabolism in Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders.- Caveolin and Cancer.- Dietary Modulation of Lipid Rafts.