BIO 140.
01 DIFFUSION
Transcript of Transport Across Cell
Membranes
After having looked at the cell membrane and
its components and properties, we now look at
a very important function of your cell membrane
which is to provide a way by which materials
can be transported across it.
We had said previously that your [cell]
membrane is a selectively permeable barrier.
● The lipid bilayer structure of our cell
membrane makes the inside of the
bilayer highly hydrophobic while the
edges where your polar heads are
interacting with the polar environment or
highly hydrophilic
● So there has to be a way by which
solutes might be transported across the
cell membrane
Before we talk about specific solutes to
be transported, a very basic concept in biology
which we have to revisit is the concept of
diffusion.
[] Diffusion often refers to the net movement of
a solute in a solvent from a region of higher
concentration to a region of lower
concentration
● This means that diffusion is driven by a
gradient in concentration [or
concentration gradient]
● (Figure A) For example, if you place a
few drops of dye, then the dye
molecules will eventually spread
themselves out until you reach a position
where there's no net movement
anymore, and this is equilibrium
● (Figure B) If you have two substances
which do not react with each other,
they will diffuse independently of each
other until they also reach equilibrium
SIMPLE DIFFUSION ACROSS A
SEMI-PERMEABLE MEMBRANE
When we're talking about cells, diffusion has to
happen across a semi-permeable membrane to
import or export things in or out of the cell more easily than glucose because it is
or into or out of membrane-bound smaller than glucose
compartments in your cell. ● Again your ions like your sodium ions
will not be able to cross the lipid
[] The ease at which a solute might diffuse bilayer
across your lipid bilayer depends on three
things
1. Polarity or its solubility in oil
● Obviously, polarity plays a role because
the inside of your lipid bilayer is highly
hydrophobic
● So only [non]polar molecules can
easily diffuse across your lipid bilayer
2. Size
● Smaller molecules would diffuse
faster than larger molecules
● With regards to polar substances, they
might not diffuse across a lipid
● Gases [and] your steroid hormones
bilayer as quickly as nonpolar
diffuse through simple diffusion
substances, and their size also plays a
● Small polar molecules and larger
role
polar molecules will diffuse very slowly
3. Charge
● Again the lipid bilayer is completely
● Charged molecules or your ions are
impermeable to your ions
completely repelled by the lipid
bilayer, and the lipid bilayer is
TRANSPORT OF SOLUTES ACROSS THE
impermeable to your ions
CELL MEMBRANE MAY REQUIRE
- This is of course a very big limitation in
TRANSPORT PROTEINS
the materials which have to enter the cell
because this means that not all
materials can diffuse across the
semi-permeable membrane, the
semi-permeable lipid bilayer, without
assistance
The transport of solutes across the cell
ex. If we try to arrange the ease at which water, membrane might require some channels or
sodium ions, oxygen, and glucose will diffuse transport proteins.
across the lipid bilayer, then they would diffuse ● While nonpolar substances easily diffuse
at different rates across the lipid bilayer without
● The fastest which would diffuse at assistance, ions and polar molecules
across the lipid bilayer would of course might need the assistance of an
be the hydrophobic molecule, and that integral membrane protein
would be your oxygen
- A lot of your gases are hydrophobic and
can easily diffuse across your lipid
bilayer
● Polar substances like glucose and water,
again comparably, water would diffuse
 transporters or carrier proteins
facilitating active transport
● When you say active transport, you have
an additional input of energy and it's
easy to imagine the hydrolysis of ATP
as a readily available source of energy
to drive active transport

THE ELECTROCHEMICAL GRADIENT:

Concentration Gradient + Membrane
Potential

[] We have to keep in mind that diffusion is

driven by the concentration gradient

A. Passive Transport would constitute the

movement of solutes from a high
concentration to a low concentration

1. Simple diffusion
[] While diffusion is driven by the concentration
● Simple diffusion of lipid-soluble
gradient, the membrane potential also plays a
substances means that they do not
significant role in the movement of materials
require any protein for them to cross
across the lipid bilayer, especially your ions
the lipid bilayer
● (Left figure) For example, if there's no
2. Facilitated diffusion
membrane potential across your cell
● For polar substances, faster diffusion
membrane, then the movement of ions
rates can be achieved only through
would solely depend on the
the use of a protein, but if we're talking
concentration gradient
about passive transport there's no
● (Middle figure) However, if there is a
additional energy input needed
charge across your cell membrane, or
● This is referred to as facilitated diffusion,
membrane potential is not zero, then
where the diffusion is facilitated by a
that would affect the ease at which an
transmembrane protein such as a
ion would diffuse across your lipid
transporter, sometimes called carrier
bilayer
proteins or a channel protein for your
- For example, if there's a negative
ions
membrane potential on the
inside of the cell, then positively
B. Active transport
charged ions would diffuse
● Movement of materials across the cell
much faster than if there were
membrane is not always through
a… (transition to third figure)
passive transport or diffusion
● (Third figure) Positive membrane
● Sometimes materials have to be
potential because like charges repel
concentrated across a cell membrane
and opposite charges attract
and this requires an additional energy
input
● This is referred to as active transport
and often you also have similar
[] The concentration gradient, together with the OSMOSIS
membrane potential is collectively referred to
as the electrochemical gradient
● Diffusion is driven across a cell
membrane by the electrochemical
gradient

[] Ions are taken into consideration because

ions play very important physiological roles in
the cell
● Because the lipid bilayer is highly
impermeable to ions, a steep
concentration gradient of ions can be
kept across a cell membrane
Another very important concept because we're
talking about a semi-permeable membrane in
terms of the lipid bilayer is osmosis.
[] Osmosis refers to the diffusion of solvent
molecules
● In the cellular context, this is water
across the lipid bilayer

(Refer to figure) For example, if you have a

U-tube separated by a semi-permeable
membrane, which is permeable to water but
not the solute molecules, you would expect
the water to move towards the second
compartment where you have a higher
concentration of solute molecules
(Refer to figure) Here are some common ions ● The movement of the water is driven by
which you find with physiological functions for the osmotic pressure
the cell and their relative intracellular and
extracellular concentrations Tonicity and Osmotic Pressure
● For example, the extracellular
concentration of sodium is much higher
compared to its intracellular
concentration
● For potassium, it's the opposite. The
intracellular concentration is much
higher compared to the extracellular
concentration
● For your other cations, you have a
similar relationship
- For calcium and magnesium, it's higher
outside compared to inside This has a great deal to do with tonicity or the
● For chlorine, an anion, the ability of an extracellular solution to make water
concentration is also higher outside move in or out of the cell by osmosis.
compared to inside 1. Isotonic solution
● For example, [as red blood cells] move
Again these steep concentration gradients can in the plasma, they have no net loss or
be achieved because of the impermeability of gain of water as water moves in and out
the lipid bilayer to ions. of the cell because your plasma is an
isotonic solution
2. Hypotonic solution
● If you place your red blood cells in pure
distilled water, then the concentration
of solutes inside the cell is much
higher than in the water
- The net movement of water would be to
enter your cell, causing your cells to
swell up
3. Hypertonic solution
● On the other hand, if you place your red
[] This also places challenges to organisms
blood cells in a highly concentrated
which live in highly hypotonic environments,
salt solution, then that would be a
like your Paramecium [and] a lot of your
hypertonic solution
protists.
- Because the concentration of solute is
● Paramecium lives in the ponds, and
higher in your solution compared to
water [is a] hypotonic environment
inside your cell, then the net movement
- To prevent the cell from bursting
of water would be going out of the cell
because of [too much water], they
- The cell would experience water loss
actually have specialized organelles
and shrinkage
(contractile vacuoles) which pump out
water for osmoregulation

- You can see that in the video. This is the

contractile vacuole, [and] as it fills up
with water, the water is expelled actively
to prevent the cells from bursting

This is why if you have a freshwater fish and

[] In the case of plant cells, however, it's very you put it in a saltwater environment, it will not
different because a hypotonic extracellular survive, and if you place a saltwater fish in a
solution is very ideal. freshwater environment, it will also not survive.
● (Figure A, hypotonic) This plasma
membrane can only expand so that it
pushes up against your cell wall which is
very rigid
- So when you water your plants, the
water is a hypotonic solution, allowing
your plants to become rigid and erect
● (Figure B, hypertonic) In case there is a
loss of water, then what happens is that
water exits the cell, there's no turgor
pressure, and your plants will wilt

Knowing that water is a small,
uncharged polar molecule and diffuses very
slowly across the lipid bilayer, how is the faster
diffusion of water facilitated?
Aquaporins: Passive Transport
[] Proteins called aquaporins will facilitate the
transport of water.
● Water passes through the lipid by layer
through aquaporins
● The direction of transport of the water is
in response to osmotic gradients
created by a transport of other solutes
across your cell membrane
This is the structure of your aquaporin try to imagine it
embedded in a lipid by layer and your water molecules
pass through it in single file
The structure of aquaporin has been
very well characterized. You will notice again
that only a water molecule will fit in a single file.
[One water molecule has been colored for you
to be able to follow it.]
● The direction in which water enters or
exits the cell would be determined based
on the osmotic pressure
[] You can see that aquaporin - its alpha helices
and the water passing through the aquaporin.
The aquaporin is embedded in your lipid
bilayer.
● If you look at the sides of the pore of the
aquaporin, your water molecules adhere
because of transient H-bonds between
the polypeptide backbone of the protein
and your water molecules.
HOW DO SOME IONS ENTER THE CELL?
Your ions will enter or exit the cell in a
similar manner. They make use of integral
proteins called your ion channels.
Ion Channels: Passive Transport ii. ligand-gated ion
[] Ion channels always facilitate the passive channels
transport of ions - will open or close
in response to
Characteristics of Ion Channels binding of a ligand
1.Specific to Ion and that ligand can
- characteristics of ion channels is that they're be an extracellular
very specific to the ion they transport ligand or an
e.g. if it is a sodium ion channel, it will intracellular ligand
only transport sodium; it's not even a
hydrated ion but really just your sodium
ion

Later on, we will be talking about

neurotransmitter-gated ion channels which
open in response to binding of signaling
molecules such as your neurotransmitters
2.Conformations: Closed and Open
- your ion channels can also exist in two iii. mechanically-gated ion channels
conformations -these mechanically gated
a. Closed: ions cannot pass through ion channels are often
b. Open: when they are open, there's a physically connected to
very narrow passageway called your the cell cytoskeletal
selectivity filter which only allows that system → such that
specific type ion to pass through changes to the
cytoskeletal system can
● The opening and closing of your ion open or close the ion
channels are gated channel
● The change in confirmation which opens
or closes them is dependent on the type
of ion channel
Let's have an example of an ion channel...
Types of Ion Channels: [] potassium ion channel (K+ ion channels)
- the potassium ion channel shown here is an
i. voltage-gated ion example of a voltage-gated ion channel
channels
- which respond to This is a model of the
changes in membrane bacterial potassium
potential channel. You will see
- for example, if you that there's a very
have this polarization of narrow opening by
your cell membrane, which your potassium
depolarization [here the ions will pass
cell membrane becomes less negative] can through.
cause a voltage-gated ion channel to open

It's voltage-gated so it opens in
response to a change in membrane potential.
// How does a change in membrane potential
cause the conformational change?
You often have the pore domain where
the ion passes through and you have a voltage
sensing domain which has a high percentage
of charged amino acids which can sense any
say change in ph or voltage.
Eukaryotic K+ Ion Channel
This is the same ion channel but it's
the one in eukaryotes. You can see it across
the lipid bilayer and it's a very complex
structure and you will see something very
interesting about it.
● this would be the pore channel where
the ions open pass through when it is
open
● aside from the open and closed
conformation, because of the structure
of the ion channel, some of the some
parts of the peptide can actually
diffuse and plug up the open channel
- in which case the channel is open
and yet no ions can pass through
(this is referred to as the
deactivated confirmation of
your channel)
● in order for it to be opened again, there
has to be a change in membrane
potential which closes it and then
another change in membrane potential
which opens it
- and then after some time, there is
automatic inactivation just
because of molecular movement
HOW DOES GLUCOSE ENTER THE CELL?
How do large uncharged polar molecules enter
the cell? For example, how does glucose enter
or exit the cell?
Transporters: Facilitated Diffusion
[] Transporters are proteins which facilitate
passive transport as well as active transport of
molecules
● in this case, we're talking about the
glucose transporter protein which
facilitates the passive transport of
glucose
 reason is the same: because there are
limited transporters, once all the
transporters are occupied then there
has to be transport before new solute
is transported

[] You can also see here the advantage of

Glucose Transporters: GLUT
transporter mediated diffusion as opposed to
simple diffusion: there can be a higher rate of
You will see here the transporter shown
solute movement when you have transporter
in green and it has two conformations:
mediated diffusion
● the binding of the solute to be
transported to the transporter can cause
a conformational change which will drive
the transport of the solute across the cell
membrane down its concentration
gradient

| glucose transporters are transporters which

facilitate the diffusion of glucose
● in humans we have different glucose
transporters depending on the types of
tissues they are found on
- We have glucose transporter 1
(Glut1) up to glucose transporter
5 (Glut5).
Regulation of Intracellular Glucose
To further the discussion, your glute
transporters are not always found on the
plasma membrane and it's the same for other
transporters.
● They will only be translocated to the
plasma membrane when there is a need
for them to transport the specific solute

[] The regulation of intracellular glucose, as you

might know, is through the hormone or
signaling molecule insulin

[] If you look at the kinetics of solute movement

graphed against its concentration, you will see
that transporter mediated transport follows a
very familiar pattern that is: as you increase
the solute concentration (in this case of
glucose), there is an increase of rate of
transport but it reaches a v-max.
● this is very familiar to you because it's
similar to your enzyme kinetics and the
 ● When there are low insulin levels, that Part 3
means no insulin is produced because
there's very low blood sugar levels, the
glucose transporters are actually within
membranes of cytoplasmic vesicles →
they're inside the cell
● but once you eat, you now have high
blood sugar levels, your the cells in your
body responsible for producing insulin
will produce insulin
- what happens is that insulin binds [] Your GLUT or your glucose transporter is an
to its receptor on responsive cells example of a uniport.
such as your adipocytes or your - It facilitates the transport of one kind of
skeletal muscle cells solute molecule.
- that triggers a signaling pathway
which causes your cytoplasmic [] You can also have symports or antiports
vesicles where your Glu which will couple the transport of two solutes.
transporters are inserted to fuse - If it's a symport, the transported
with the plasma membrane molecule and the co-transported ion or
allowing the intake of glucose molecule will be transported in the same
direction
Again, if there is no glucose in your - If they are transported in opposite
blood, then there is no need for the glucose directions this is referred to as an
transporters to be on the plasma membrane antiport.
they are kept in intracellular cytoplasmic
vesicles

You might be familiar with a metabolic

condition having to do with dysregulation of
blood glucose levels and this is diabetes
● looking at this pathway you can predict
where diabetics have a problem
because they are unable to control their
blood sugar levels
[] Transporters not only facilitate passive
- so either they have a problem
transport but can also facilitate active
with the production of insulin so
transport.
the glucose transporters remain in
- When we're talking about active
cytoplasmic vesicles and so blood
transport, we're going against the
sugar levels remain very high
concentration gradient, against the
- or there is a problem with the
electrochemical gradient
receptor so that even if insulin is
- and you're transporting the solute from
present the events which would
low concentration to high concentration.
trigger the fusion of the
- Because this is active transport, you
cytoplasmic vesicles to transport
need an additional input of energy to
the glucose transporters to the
power the transport .
plasma membrane will not take
place
[] There are several sources of energy
which the cell can use to power active
transport.
1. ATP hydrolysis
- The energy from ATP hydrolysis can
power active transport
2. Coupled Transport
- Where you're taking advantage of an ion
gradient and the passive transport of an
ion can power the active transport of
your molecule or your solute
3. Light-driven active transport
- Energy from a photon of light hitting your
transporter can drive the active transport
of the solute
We will have examples of each of these but we
will start with your active transport driven by
ATP hydrolysis.
ACTIVE TRANSPORT DRIVEN BY ATP
HYDROLYSIS
Note: Active transporters are often referred to
as pumps because of the implication that
energy is needed to pump the solute across the
lipid bilayer.
[] ATP driven pumps are also referred to as
ATPases because they rely on the hydrolysis
of ATP to power active transport.
Several types of ATP driven pumps
1. P-type pump
- We'll have several examples of your
P-type pumps where the transporter is
phosphorylated during the pumping
cycle.
2. F-type pump
- Later on, when we talk about the
mitochondria and ATP synthesis, you'll
have an example of an F-type pump
which works like a turbine.
- The movement, in this case, of protons
drives a turbine like structure in your
pump and it's actually responsible for the
synthesis of ATP
3. ABC Transporter
- We’ll also have examples of your ABC
transporters or your ATP-binding
cassettes.
- These are dimers where, again,
hydrolysis of ATP at each of the
monomers drives the active transport of
your solute
EXAMPLES OF P-TYPE ATPASEs
A. Calcium Pump
[] Your calcium pump is an example of a
P-type ATPase.
- Your calcium ATPases are responsible
for expelling calcium from the cytosol
into the sarcoplasmic reticulum
Note: The sarcoplasmic reticulum is a
specialized type of endoplasmic reticulum you
see in your muscle cells where calcium ions are
stored.
- Calcium ATPases can also be seen on
the plasma membrane where they expel
calcium out of the cell so that you have a
very high calcium concentration in the
extracellular space or inside your
sarcoplasmic reticulum and your calcium
 pumps are concentrating those ions
further.
So, here you will see that the phosphorylation
of your calcium pump drives the active
transport of calcium across the cell membrane.
B. Sodium-Potassium Pump
[] Another example of a P-type ATPase is
your sodium-potassium pump
- Your sodium potassium pump is very
significant in that it is the one that
maintains the steep ion gradients of
sodium and potassium across your cell
membrane
Note: So remember, to keep in mind these
relative intracellular and extracellular
concentrations of sodium and potassium,
Potassium has a higher concentration
inside the cell compared to outside while
sodium has a higher concentration of
sodium outside the cell compared to inside.
[] Your sodium potassium pumps actively
transport both sodium and potassium across
the plasma membrane.
- Potassium is driven into the cell
where there's a higher concentration of it
- Sodium is driven out of the cell where
there's a higher concentration of it.
[] The exchange of sodium for potassium is not
equal.
- For every 3 sodium ions exported out of
the cell, only 2 potassium ions are
brought in.
- This contributes to a separation of
charge across the membrane because
you're exporting three positive ions but
only importing two positive ions so
there's like a net negative charge inside
the cell.
- This uneven exchange of your cations is
described as the electrogenic property
of your sodium potassium pump and
it contributes to the separation of charge
across the membrane.
The sodium potassium pump, again, maintains
that steep electrochemical gradient of sodium
and potassium across your plasma membrane.
Note: We are not comparing intracellular
potassium with intracellular sodium but we are
just comparing intracellular potassium
concentrations with extracellular potassium
concentrations; extracellular sodium
concentrations compared to intracellular
sodium concentrations.
● The mnemonic usually used here is
PISO (Potassium Inside Sodium
Outside), that's where you have higher
concentrations
Looking at the pumping cycle of your sodium
potassium pump:
➝ In one conformation, you have the binding
site for sodium.
➝ ATP binding and phosphorylation of the
pump drives sodium out of the cell
➝ Exposing a binding site for potassium
➝ Potassium is driven into the cell.

So, again, the active transport of both sodium

and potassium are driven by ATP hydrolysis.

● Cardiac glycosides are derived from

plants.
○ You might see these plants in
your garden. You have the
familiar yellow bell and your
oleander or your adelfa.
○ If you're familiar with these plants,
if you break their stalks or their
leaves, they have that white milky
sap.
○ That white milky sap contains a
cardiac glycoside called
[] Ouabain is a powerful inhibitor of your
oleandrin which has similar
sodium potassium pump.
effects to ouabain
- Ouabain (its structure is seen here) is a
○ That's why if you have these
cardiac glycoside
planted in your yard, you should
- Its binding to the sodium potassium
take care that your pets or that
pump inhibits its activity and that can
younger children will not chew on
have very serious consequences to the
them because this can build up
cell because the ion gradient of sodium
the toxins in their systems and
and potassium on which other transport
cause heart failure
processes are dependent on dissipates.

[] Cardiac glycosides are actually used

clinically to increase heart contraction and
cardiac output in patients with heart failure.
- What happens is that the heart is
temporarily stopped and when it is
restarted again, you have a more regular
heartbeat.
- Obviously, in wrong dosages, ouabain
can be lethal.
- Other cardiac glycosides such as C. Proton Potassium Pump
strophanthidin and digitoxigenin are also [] Another example of a P-type ATPase
used as drugs for controlling heart would be your proton potassium pump.
problems like arrhythmia and cardiac - Your proton potassium pump is found in
arrest your gastric epithelium
 - and it is responsible for the acidification
of your stomach
➝ Normally, when there's no food available,
your proton potassium pumps are again on
cytosolic vesicles inside the cell
➝ But the presence of food and the production
of histamine triggers the fusion of the cytosolic
vesicles with the plasma membrane on the
luminal side of your stomach
➝ And there is the movement of protons
across your epithelium
➝ Which increases the acidity in your stomach
to aid in chemical digestion
For hyper acidity, you have several therapies:
1. Acid-blocking drug
- block the binding of histamine to prevent
the translocation of the pumps to the
plasma membrane.
2. Acid-neutralizing agents
- These are just basic agents like
aluminum hydroxide which you drink to
neutralize the hyper acidity
3. Pump-inhibiting drug
- For chronic hyperacidity, you can have
pump inhibiting drugs which will inhibit
the action of your proton potassium
pumps
Again, the proton potassium pump can be used
to increase acidity in your stomach to aid in
digestion.
ABC TRANSPORTERS
ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters
[] Another type of ATP-driven pump are your
ATP-binding cassette transporters.
- These are dimers where the energy from
the hydrolysis of ATP drives small
molecules across your lipid bilayer
- It's one of the largest and possibly one
of the oldest gene families
I'll give an example of a specific eukaryotic
ABC transporter which drives small molecules
across your lipid bilayer.
[] The multidrug resistance protein pumps
hydrophobic drugs out of the cytosol.
- If this is your MDR transporter (blue
structure in the figure), a lot of the drugs
which are designed are hydrophobic so
they can easily enter the target cells via
simple diffusion because they are
nonpolar.
- However, if you have a multidrug
resistance protein, it merely pumps the
drugs back out of the cell before they
can have an effect on the cell.
[] It was seen, for example, that your ABC
transporters are actually responsible for
cancers being resistant to a lot of your
chemotherapeutic drugs.
- Your MDR proteins have been found to
be expressed at elevated levels in many
human cancer cells such that the cancer
cells are not affected anymore by the
chemotherapeutic drugs.
- To combat that, chemotherapeutic drugs
are often given as a cocktail, as a
combination of different drugs, to ensure
that at least one of those drugs will not
be recognized by the MDR transporter
 and there will no there will not be any
multiple drug resistance.
- MDR proteins are one of the research
focuses when looking at cancer.
So, there we had several examples of your
ATP-driven transporters or ATP-driven pumps.
- It’s able to harness the energy from light
because, you will see that in its
structure, it actually has a non-protein
component, a prosthetic group, your
retinal. It’s this retinal that will absorb
the energy from light and convert that
energy into proton pumping.

COUPLED TRANSPORT
Having looked at different examples of
your ATP-driven pumps, let’s look at other
types of transporters which facilitate active
transport by using other sources of energy to
drive the sample of the solute.

LIGHT-DRIVEN PUMPS:

| Coupled Transport
Let’s look at your coupled transport, so, again
in coupled transport, you are transporting the
active transport of a solute.
● So here, you see a yellow molecule,
you’re moving it from low concentration
to high concentration and that active
| Light-Driven Pump transport is coupled to the passive
Let’s look at an example of a transport of a co-transported ion.
light-driven pump. Your Bacteriorhodopsin
is an example of a light-driven pump. It’s a
proton pump and it uses light energy to
transport protons across the cell membrane
actively. So, from lower to higher
concentration, this builds up a proton
gradient which is later converted to chemical
energy by the cell. This is seen in your archaea
bacteria. ● The movement of glucose, actively, is
driven by this type of transport using the
sodium-glucose co-transporter.
- again you can see that the
sodium glucose co-transporter
exists in two conformations
- in one conformation, there’s a
binding site for both your
sodium ions and glucose
molecules.
● The binding of sodium and glucose, and
the passive transport of sodium from
high to low concentration drives the
 active transport of glucose from low
to high concentration.
- So, the binding of those two
solutes causes the conformational
change which will transport them
across your lipid bilayer. So, your
sodium glucose cotransporters
are responsible for glucose
absorption in the intestines and
reabsorption in your kidney.
Here, you will see a transporter which is
highly dependent on the concentration gradient
of sodium which was set up by your sodium
potassium pump.
Looking at the interaction of several of
the transporters we had talked about. Let’s
trace the transport of sugars from the intestinal
lumen across your intestinal epithelium into the
bloodstream.
● When you eat your food, the food
passes through your digestive tract.
● When it gets to the lumen of your
small intestine, this is where your
sugars are absorbed.
- If this is the epithelial cell on your small
intestine, the apical domain is highly
folded into your villi to increase
surface area for absorption. Also
found on the apical side is your sodium
glucose co-transporter.
- Remember this facilitates the active
transport of glucose while relying on
the sodium gradient set up by the
sodium potassium pump.
- Remember, sodium concentrations
are high outside the cell compared to
inside the cell.
● Now, glucose is being concentrated
inside the epithelium because the
volume of the epithelial cell is much
smaller compared to the volume of the
entire intestinal lumen where the glucose
is.
- So, glucose in your digested food is
highly dilute compared to the glucose
which is being imported into the cell. So,
it is transported actively.
● Now, it’s not just your intestinal epithelia
which needs your glucose. That glucose
has to be passed on to the different
parts of the body and it’s usually
distributed through your
bloodstream.
- So, to get from the intestinal
epithelial cell to the
bloodstream, it is transported
passively, that is from your high
concentration in your epithelial
cell to low concentration in your
blood through your glucose
transporter.
Try to imagine that your sodium gradient
is being utilized to import glucose actively, the
sodium glucose concentrations are kept at this
steep gradient by your sodium potassium pump
which will constantly export sodium which are
entering so that the ion gradient of sodium can
always be utilized by your sodium glucose
co-transporter.
- (Refer to figure) Here, you see how
three types of transporters facilitating
active transport or passive transport
together to fulfill the function of your
intestinal epiderm.
Again, going back to our earlier
discussion, it’s important that these
transporters be limited to the domains
where they can perform their functions.
- It wouldn’t make any sense for your
sodium glucose co-transporter to be on
the basal domain because that would
mean that it’s actually getting glucose
 from the blood when the glucose should
be distributed to the blood for distribution
to the other parts of the body.
- It wouldn’t make sense also for your Glut
to be on the apical side because that
would mean that the glucose inside the
cell is being lost back to the luminal trap
where it will not be absorbed anymore.
So, instead of absorption, you’re putting
it back.

So, in the next lecture, we will be looking

specifically at the functions of ion channels in
the specific context now of a neural cell.