How do detergents get in hydrophobic membrane interior?

Question

According to *Molecular And Cellular Biology* (Stephen L. Wolfe),> Membranes disperse almost instantaneously if exposed to a nonpolar environment or to ***detergents***, which are amphipathic molecules that can form a hydrophilic coat around the hydrophobic portions of membrane lipids and proteins in water solutions.This might be a stupid question but... if detergents can 'form coats around hydrophobic portions' of membrane-suspended molecules, they must, somehow get in the hydrophobic membrane interior... right?How do they get in the membrane interior? Do they form clusters like endocytic vesicles? What happens after they form hydrophilic coats around hydrophobic molecule regions?

Answer 1

Detergents are not, per se, entering the hydrophobic interior. Detergents are disrupting the cell membrane by pulling it apart lipid by lipid. Once the lipids are pulled away from the cell membrane, the lipids are surround by the detergent molecules. As the textbook indicates, it is here where the hydrophobic areas of the lipids are coated by the detergent molecules. The detergents also surround the proteins as well.

The lipids and proteins will stay in this state until the detergents are degraded by physical or chemical means. After this, the lipids would form micelles. In research, detergents are used to disrupt the cell membrane so researchers can run analysis on proteins or genetic material within the cell.