Phospholipid

Phospholipids are phosphorus-containing amphiphilic lipids. They are involved in the organism as membrane lipids on the structure of the lipid bilayer of a biological membrane. They are composed of a hydrophilic head and two hydrophobic hydrocarbon tails. Thus, they are amphiphilic.

Phospholipids form a lipid bilayer ( liposome) in water. The most common occurring in a cell membrane phospholipids are phosphatidylcholines ( lecithins also briefly PC), phosphatidylethanolamine ( cephalin also short PE), phosphatidylserine (PS) and sphingomyelins.

Phospholipids are broken down due to their chemical structure into the following two groups:

• Phosphoglycerides with glycerol ( also known as glycerophospholipids ) as a basic framework
• Sphingomyelins are phosphorus-containing sphingolipids, which are derived from sphingosine

There are still so-called plasmalogens. These differ from phosphoglycerides only in that they linked to the C1 atom of the glycerol instead of a fatty acid one via an ether bridge, bear unsaturated alcohol (eg, -O -CH = CH-( CH2) n- CH3). They make up 50 % of the phospholipids of the heart. With 10 % they are the most common molecules in the central nervous system, but also occur in the heart and skeletal muscles. Their function is not known.