How to Use cell membrane in a Sentence

cell membrane

noun
  • The lipids used to make fats and the cell membrane are built up two carbons at a time.
    — ArsTechnica, 12 Sep. 2025
  • Lipid bilayers, made up of two sheets of fat cells, form the cell membrane.
    — Courtney Linder, Popular Mechanics, 7 Nov. 2019
  • Melittin works by punching holes on the cell membranes.
    — Jasmine Laws, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Aug. 2025
  • One class of molecules in the cell membrane are called ion channels.
    — Gabriel A. Silva, Forbes, 2 Aug. 2022
  • How much useful energy flows through a cell membrane?
    — Adam Frank, The Atlantic, 15 Dec. 2025
  • Membrane proteins are found on the cell membrane and play a variety of roles.
    — Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 15 Dec. 2022
  • Olive oil and cell membranes are composed of the same oily molecules, called fatty acids.
    — Douglas Fox, Scientific American, 1 Apr. 2018
  • Think about a cell membrane, where water and other things pass through freely, but all the cell’s guts are kept inside.
    — Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, 13 Dec. 2019
  • Zinc is required for cell membrane repair, cell growth, and the maintenance of healthy skin.
    — Cynthia Sass, Mph, Health, 19 May 2024
  • The bubbles grow and press outward on cell membranes — and then, in a moment of fracture, pry them apart.
    — Clare Watson, Quanta Magazine, 27 Feb. 2026
  • Next, the sperm cell has to pick up speed to be able to fuse with the egg cell, and the sperm's cell membrane has to become more fluid.
    — Carla Bleiker, USA TODAY, 12 Apr. 2018
  • The parasites infect and destroy red blood cells by forcing their cell membrane to break open.
    — Jocelyn Solis-Moreira, Popular Science, 27 Mar. 2023
  • Instead, the complex of virus and receptors stays on the outside of the cell membrane.
    — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 20 Mar. 2020
  • Some dailies, for example, are coated with phospholipid, which is what cell membranes are made of.
    — Angela Haupt, Time, 7 Aug. 2025
  • Along with GenX, the plant also makes Nafion, used in fuel-cell membranes.
    — Ken Otterbourg, Fortune, 24 May 2018
  • These cell membrane lipids are a new target for cancer drugs, said the study, performed in human cancer cells and whole mice.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 July 2019
  • Think about the cell membrane, which enables a cell to stay alive by letting some chemicals in while keeping others out.
    — Adam Frank, The Atlantic, 15 Dec. 2025
  • The less water around, the less chance for precious cell membrane damage and the greater likelihood the plant will survive.
    — Paul Cappiello, The Courier-Journal, 15 Nov. 2019
  • In this way, bioelectrical flow across cell membranes lets tissues test which cells are the least healthy and mark them for extrusion.
    — Elise Cutts, Quanta Magazine, 12 Jan. 2026
  • Understanding why plants stress out in droughts, says Dunning, has to do with the way ions travel across a cell membrane.
    — April Glaser, Slate Magazine, 18 Sep. 2017
  • Defensins can kill cells by inserting themselves into the cell membrane to create holes in the membrane.
    — William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 26 Mar. 2022
  • Chloride channels are gatekeepers that sit in the cell membrane and usher chloride, an electrolyte, in and out of cells.
    — Katie Hafner, Scientific American, 11 Nov. 2021
  • Their cell membranes, for example, are made up of two different kinds of fatty molecules, known as lipids.
    — Prachi Patel, Scientific American, 13 July 2018
  • Nerve cells have tiny pores in their cell membranes that regulate the flow of sodium ions into the cell, which in turn modulates the firing of the cell.
    — Karen Weintraub, Scientific American, 1 June 2017
  • It was known that lipids are sensitive to pressure, so cell membranes were a prime target for investigation.
    — Quanta Magazine, 9 Sep. 2024
  • It was known that lipids are sensitive to pressure, so cell membranes were a prime target for investigation.
    — Yasemin Saplakoglu, WIRED, 20 Oct. 2024
  • But the debate is far from resolved; researchers are still not sure exactly how the anesthesia affects the cell membranes.
    — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 7 Feb. 2018
  • But there’s another type of fat in your mouth that the detergent in toothpaste disrupts – the lipids in the cell membranes of your taste receptors.
    — Linda Bartoshuk, The Conversation, 5 Jan. 2026
  • These tastes are detected when positively charged ions called cations pass through tiny openings in the cell membrane of your salty and sour receptors.
    — Linda Bartoshuk, The Conversation, 5 Jan. 2026
  • These fats reduce inflammation and support brain cell membrane function.
    — Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Dec. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cell membrane.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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