The concept of transient nanometric domains known as lipid rafts has brought interest to reassess the validity of the Singer–Nicolson model of a fluid bilayer for cell membranes. However, this new view is still insufficient to explain the cellular control of surface lipid diversity or membrane deformability. During the past decades, the hypothesis that some lipids form large (submicrometric/mesoscale vs nanometric rafts) and stable (> min vs s) membrane domains has emerged, largely based on indirect methods. Morphological evidence for stable submicrometric lipid domains, well-accepted for artificial and highly specialized biological membranes, was further reported for a variety of living cells from prokaryot es to yeast and mammalian cells. However, results remained questioned based on limitations of available fluorescent tools, use of poor lipid fixatives, and imaging artifacts due to non-resolved membrane projections. In this review, we will discuss recent evidence generated using powerful and innovative approaches such as lipid-specific toxin fragments that support the existence of submicrometric domains. We will integrate documented mechanisms involved in the formation and maintenance of these domains, and provide a perspective on their relevance on membrane deformability and regulation of membrane protein distribution.

瞬态纳米域（称为脂质筏）的概念引起了人们的兴趣，以重新评估细胞膜流体双层的Singer-Nicolson模型的有效性。但是，这种新观点仍不足以解释细胞对表面脂质多样性或膜可变形性的控制。在过去的几十年中，一些脂质形成大的假设（亚微米/中尺度与纳米筏）并且稳定（>最小与s）膜域已经出现，主要是基于间接方法。从原核生物到酵母和哺乳动物细胞的各种活细胞都进一步报道了稳定的亚微米脂质结构域的形态学证据，该结构域已被人工和高度专业化的生物膜广泛接受。但是，基于可用荧光工具的局限性，使用不良的脂类固定剂以及由于未解析的膜突出物而导致的成像伪像，结果仍然令人质疑。在这篇综述中，我们将讨论使用功能强大且创新的方法（例如支持亚微米级域存在的脂质特异性毒素片段）产生的最新证据。我们将整合形成和维护这些域的文件化机制，