CHAPTER 3

Transportation Across Cell Membrane

LECTURE OUTLINES
 Introduction
 Transport Across The Cell Surface Membrane
 Passive Transport
 Diffusion
 Facilitated Difussion
 Osmosis

 Active Transport
 Bulk Transport
 Endocytosis
 Phagocytosis

 Pinocytosis

 Exocytosis
INTRODUCTION

 Cell surface membrane is said to be semi-permeable.

 Semi-permeable or selectively permeable membranes
only allow certain substances pass through it (being
selective).

The structure of the plasma

membrane.
Generalized diagram of a plasma membrane based on
the fluid mosaic model of membrane structure.
INTRODUCTION

 Substances enter and leave the cell by active and passive

transport – regulated by transport proteins system.
 Transport across membrane depends on concentration
gradient.
 Passive transport doesn’t require energy to transport
substances down a concentration gradient, usually by:
(a) Diffusion
(b) Facilitated diffusion
(c) Osmosis
 Active transport requires energy to transport substances
against a concentration gradient.
Diffusion
 A process by which substances move from a region
of high concentration to a region of low
concentration of that substance across a semi-
permeable membrane.
 Rate of diffusion depends on:
a) Concentration gradient
b) Nature of ions/molecules
i. Size
ii. Polar/non-polar
c) Surface area
d) Temperature
 Diffusion
 Regulate movement of molecules into or out of cell.
 Only very small uncharged molecules can readily diffuse i.e.
O2, CO2 & water (polar but very small molecule)

 Hydrophobic molecules pass through more readily than

hydrophilic ones

 Large uncharged polar molecules like glucose and amino

acids cannot diffuse through

 Ions cannot diffuse through because of its charge

Phosphate group repels
charged molecules
 Diffusion of a drop of dye in a bowl of
water.

• Dye molecules become evenly dispersed

throughout the bowl as a result of net
Molecules movement down their concentration
of dye gradient.
spread out • Water molecules become evenly dispersed
into the as a result of net movement down their
available concentration gradient.
space
 Plant cell
Animal cell

Diffusion of a solute through the plasma membrane.

(a) In this example, a cell is dropped into a solution containing a
solute (urea) capable of penetrating the membrane. Initially, the
concentration of solute is much greater outside the cell than
inside, resulting in the rapid movement of solute into the cell.
(b) After the solute enters the cell, some of the molecules will
diffuse back across the membrane to the outside, but the net
movement will still be into the cell.
(c) Eventually, the concentration on the two sides of the membrane
will be equal, and the movement of solute will occur at the same
rate in both directions.
Facilitated Diffusion
 Allows diffusion of (any molecule including water) large,
polar membrane insoluble compounds (sugars and amino
acids) and ions (Na+ and Cl-)
 Does not require energy (passive)
 Substances move down a concentration gradient through
membrane transport proteins namely:
i. channel proteins and
ii. carrier proteins.
 Each is highly specific, allowing only one type of molecule
or ion to pass through it.
Facilitated Diffusion
Channel Proteins
 Water-filled pores (hydrophilic

passageways)
 Fixed shape (continuous flow)

 Allow specific molecules or ions

to diffuse through the membrane.

 Examples Aquaporin

 Aquaporins (water channel proteins) –

facilitate the diffusion of bulk flow of
water molecules
 Ion Channels – facilitate ions to diffuse. How do transport
 Most ion channel proteins are ‘gated’ – can
proteins contribute to a
membrane’s selective
control ion exchange. permeablitity?
 Transport of water across the cell via semi-permeable
membrane (phospholipid bilayer) by osmosis
and via aquaporin (channel protein) by facilitated
diffusion.
 Facilitated Diffusion
Carrier Proteins
 Constantly flip between two shape, ping and pong states

 The changes in shape triggered by the binding and

release of the transported molecules.

Facilitated Diffusion
 Osmosis
 Osmosis is a diffusion exclusively involving water molecules
only.
 Water potential (Ψ) – The tendency of water molecules to
move from one place to another.
 Pure water has the highest water potential, which is zero.
 Osmosis - The net movement of water molecules from a
region of higher water potential to a region of a lower
water potential through a partially permeable membrane.
Ψ = Ψs (always negative) + Ψp (always positive)
 Two factors:
(a) Solute concentration
(b) Membrane pressure
Osmosis: tonicity
 Relative concentration of two fluids.
 Hypotonic, hypertonic and isotonic.

(a) A cell placed in an isotonic solution neither swells nor shrinks because it gains
and loses equal amounts of water. Normal biconcave shaped of RBCs.
(b) A cell in a hypertonic solution soon shrinks because of a net loss of water by
osmosis. RBCs become crenated
(c) A cell placed in a hypotonic solution swells because of a net gain of water by
osmosis. RBCs become haemolysed
 Osmosis
 The amount that the solute molecules lower the water
potential of a solution is called the solute potential (Ψs)
 Since solutes make water potential lower (less than zero),
Ψs is always negative.
 The more solute, the more negative (lower) the water
potential becomes.
 In animal cells,
Ψ = Ψs
 Osmosis
 Pressure potential (Ψp)– Contribution made by pressure to water
potential.
 The greater the pressure applied, the greater the tendency of
water to move from one place to another.
 Ψp is more important in plant cell because it is surrounded by a
rigid and strong cell wall.
 In animal cell, as water enters, the cell size increases. But in plants,
the protoplast starts to push against the cell wall and pressure
start to build up . This is the pressure potential.
 This prevents the plant cell from bursting.
 Since Ψp makes water potential less negative,
Ψp is always positive.
 For plant cells,
Ψ = Ψs + Ψp
 Osmosis: Effect of Fluid Pressure

 Plant cells are vulnerable to water losses,

which can happen when the soil dries or
become too salty.
 Water stops diffusing in and starts
diffusing out, so internal fluid pressure falls.
 This osmotically induced shrinkage of
cytoplasm is called plasmolysis.
The effects of osmosis in plants.
(a) Aquatic plants living in fresh water are surrounded by a
hypotonic environment. Water therefore tends to flow into
the cells, creating high water (turgor) pressure.
(b) If the plant is placed in a hypertonic solution, such as
seawater, the cell loses water, and the plasma membrane
pulls away from the cell wall, a process known as plasmolysis.
 Active Transport
 Transport of molecules/ions across a membrane against/up
a concentration gradient via carrier proteins.
 Occurs in one direction and requires energy (ATP) from
the cell.
 The energy is used to make the carrier protein change its
shape, transferring the molecules/ions across the
membrane in the process.
 E.g. sodium-potassium pump.
 In animals, It is important in re-absorption in the kidneys.
 In plants, it is used to load sugar from leaves into phloem
tissue.
Active transport across animal cell membranes.
In this example, transport of one kind of solute is coupled with transport of another kind
in the opposite direction. When a carrier protein receives an energy boost from ATP, its
shape changes in ways that pump the solutes across the membrane.
Schematic concept of the mechanism of the sodium-potassium pump.
Sodium ions (1) bind to the protein on the inside of the membrane; ATP is hydrolyzed
and the phosphate produced is linked to the protein (2), causing a change in the shape of
the protein (3), allowing sodium ions to be expelled to the external space. Potassium ions
then bind to the protein (4), followed by the removal of the phosphate group (5) which
causes the protein to “snap” back to its original conformation, moving the potassium ions
to the inside of the cell (6).
Bulk Transport
Mechanisms involves bulk transport of large quantities of
material into the cells (endocytosis) or out of cells
(exocytosis)
Transport of large molecules (proteins/polysaccharides/
whole cells) across the membrane.
Requires energy (active transport)
Bulk Transport - Endocytosis

 Involves the engulfing of the material by the cell surface

membrane to form a small sac (vacoule)
 Two types;
 Phagocytosis (cell eating) – bulk uptake of solid material.
 The cells carry out this process is called phagocytes
 Example – Bacteria being engulfed by WBCs.

 Pinocytosis (cell drinking) – bulk uptake of liquid

 Example – human egg cell takes up nutrients from cell that
surround it (the follicle)
Endocytosis and exocytosis
Cell uptake by phagocytosis.
(a) Cell ingesting a synthetic particle.
(b) A food particle becomes enclosed
within an invagination of the plasma
membrane, which subsequently
pinches off to form a large
membranous vesicle. Food matter is
digested by enzymes discharged from
lysosomes that fuse with the vesicle
membrane. The digested food is then
absorbed into the amoeba’s
cytoplasm.
 Bulk Transport - Exocytosis
 The process by which
materials are removed
from cell (reverse of
endocytosis).
 Example –
 Secretion of digestive
enzymes from cells of the
pancreas.
 The secretory vesicles
from the golgi apparatus
carry the enzymes to the
cell surface and release
their contents
Summary of mechanisms by which substances move across cell membranes.