TODAY’S OBJECTIVES:

1 2 3 4
Membrane’s Passive Transport Active Transport Bulk Transport
Selective A. Simple Diffusion A. Ion pumps A. Exocytosis
Permeability (Electrogenic
B. Facilitated B. Endocytosis
Diffusion pumps)
B. Coupled
Transport
CELL MEMBRANE
The plasma membrane is the
boundary that separates the
living cell from its surroundings
The plasma membrane exhibits
selective permeability,
allowing some substances to
cross it more easily than others
Transport proteins are often
responsible for controlling
passage across cellular
membranes
Lipids and proteins are staple ingredients of membranes although
carbohydrates are also important.
The most abundant lipid in
membranes are phospholipids

Phospholipids- amphiphatic
molecules with both the
hydrophilic and hydrophobic
regions
Membrane proteins are also amphipatic. The figure below is the fluid mosaic
model. The plasma membrane is a mosaic of membrane proteins in fluid
bilayer of phospholipids
A membrane is held together by hydrophobic interactions, much weaker than
covalent bond.
Lipids and some proteins can move sideways, very rarely they can also flip-flop from
one layer to another

Sideways movement of
phospholipid is rapid
while membrane
proteins move slowly
and some are just
immobile held in place
by microfilaments or the
ECM
 Water Balancing of Cells
Water is the main compound
inside and outside of the cell
(separated by the semipermeable
membrane)

Because of the presence of

different solutes in the water
solutions in and out of the cell,
the concentration of water on
both sides of the cell membrane
differs. If this is the case, osmosis
occurs.
C. Osmosis
Osmosis is the diffusion of water across a
selectively permeable membrane.

Water moves
from L → H (solute
concentration)
Tonicity is the ability of a solution to cause a cell to gain or lose
water.
If there is a higher concentration of nonpenetrating solutes (those
that cannot cross the membrane) then water will tend to leave the
cell, and vice versa
1. ISOTONIC SOLUTION
It has equal concentration
of solute molecules inside
and outside the cell

“flaccid”

inside the cell

 Red blood cells

2. HYPERTONIC SOLUTION
it contains a higher concentration
of solute than that of the inside of
the cell. Remember:
Water moves
from L → H (solute
concentration)

inside the cell

Plant cell
 Red blood cells

2. HYPERTONIC SOLUTION

In a hypertonic solution, the cell

looses water, and experiences
shrinking of the cell’s cytoplasm
due to excessive exit of water.

This is known as plasmolysis

(in plants) or crenation (in
animals)

Plant cell
 Red blood cells
3. HYPOTONIC SOLUTION
it contains a lower concentration
of solute than that of the inside
of the cell. Remember:
Water moves
from L → H (solute
concentration)

inside the cell

Plant cell
 Red blood cells
3. HYPOTONIC SOLUTION
In animal cells, this may cause cell lysis or
cytolysis (death by the bursting of the cell)

Organisms with cell walls like the plants

and many algae, fungi and bacteria,
osmosis causes turgor pressure (the pressure
that a fluid exerts againsts a structure that
contains it)

When enough turgor pressure builds up

inside, the water stops diffusing. The amount
of turgor that stops osmosis is called
osmotic pressure. Plant cell
CELL TONICITY
 5 FACTORS AFFECTING THE RATE OF DIFFUSION
Size Smaller particles → Diffuse faster

Temperature Higher temperature → Diffuse faster

Steepness of
Concentration Steeper gradient → Diffuse faster
Gradient
Pressure Higher pressure → Diffuse faster

Charges (+/-) → Diffuse slower

Charge Biological membranes have no charge thus preventing charged molecules to diffuse
(they need a transport protein to pass through)
ACTIVE TRANSPORT: TRANSPORT PROTEINS
 PROTON PUMP
+
(H )
The main
electrogenic pump
of plants, fungi, and
bacteria is a proton
pump, which actively
transports protons
(H+) out of the cell.
 Bulk Transport
• Small molecules and water enter or
leave the cell through the lipid
bilayer or by transport proteins.

• Large molecules, such as

polysaccharides and proteins, cross
the membrane in bulk via vesicles.

• Bulk transport across the plasma

membrane occurs by exocytosis and
endocytosis; it requires energy.
 A. Exocytosis (large molecules out)
In exocytosis, transport vesicles migrate to the membrane, fuse
with it, and release their contents outside the cell.
Many secretory cells use exocytosis to export their products.
 B. Endocytosis (large molecules in)
In endocytosis, the cell takes in
macromolecules by forming vesicles
from the plasma membrane.
Endocytosis is a reversal of exocytosis,
involving different proteins.
There are three types of endocytosis:
Phagocytosis
(“cellular eating”)
Pinocytosis
(“cellular drinking”)
Receptor-mediated endocytosis
 ACTIVE TRANSPORT:
(BULK) VESICULAR
TRANSPORT

ENDOCYTOSIS

EXOCYTOSIS
 PHAGOCYTOSIS
“TO DEVOUR”(CELL EATING)
PINOCYTOSIS RECEPTOR-
“TO DRINK” MEDIATED
(CELL
DRINKING) ENDOCYTOSIS
Clathrin- a coat protein Ex. used by cells in order
which can function for to acquire cholesterol, an
specifying destination of important component of
molecules the membrane
DIFFUSION VS. OSMOSIS