Physical Concept to Explain the Regulation of Lipid Membrane Phase Separation under Isothermal Conditions.Lateral phase separation within lipid bilayer membranes has attracted considerable attention in the fields of biophysics and cell biology.  Living cells organize laterally segregated compartments, such as raft domains in an ordered phase, and regulate their dynamic structures under isothermal conditions to promote cellular functions.  This review focuses on the isothermal triggering of membrane phase separation from a physical point of view.  We consider the free energy of the membrane that describes lateral phase separation and explain the experimental results of model membranes to regulate domain formation under isothermal conditions.  These findings may contribute to a better understanding of membrane lateral organization within living cells that function under isothermal conditions and could be useful for the development of artificial cell engineering.
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