ABSTRACT
Electrostatic interactions are inherently related to cell membrane processes. The development of a nervous system in complex organisms was also completely dependent on mechanisms that include electrochemical gradients and electrostatic control of protein activities to translate information. Proteins also acquire their structure as a consequence, to a large extent, of a balance between opposing solubilities. Side chains with remarkable different solubilities in water are present in a given sequence of amino acids. The anisotropic organization of the components in a biological membrane introduces geometrical and energetic restrictions that make evident the intrinsic anisotropy of chemical reactions. There are basically two different approaches in the literature, or a mixture of them, to evaluate the contribution and role of electrostatics in lipid–protein interactions. In some cases, the lipid membrane, protein molecule, and electrolyte solution are considered a continuous medium. Several proteins develop their physiological function within the lipid membrane interface.
