Unit 01 Cell Physiology

The Cell
• Cells are the structural and functional units of all living organisms.
• The word cell means “a small chamber.”
• The human body is composed of trillions of cells, each a microscopic compartment.
Microscopic Observations of Cells
• Light microscope can resolve objects as small as 0.2 µm in diameter, an electron
microscope can resolve structures as small as 0.002 µm.
• Living cells can be observed with a light microscope, but this is not possible with
anelectron microscope.
Cells to be observed with an electron microscope must be cut into sections on the order of
0.1µm thick, which is about one-hundredth of the thickness of a typical cell.
Types of Cells
• Eukaryotic cells contain a nuclear membrane surrounding the cell nucleus, and also
contain numerous other membrane-bound structures.
• Prokaryotic cells, such as bacteria, lack the membranous structures.
Eukaryotic Cells
• Cells are surrounded by a limiting barrier, the plasma membrane, which covers the cell
surface.
• The membrane-bound compartments, along with some particles and filaments, are known
as cell organelles.

• The interior of a cell is divided into two regions:

The nucleus, a spherical or oval structure usually near the center of the cell, and
1) The cytoplasm, the region outside the nucleus.
 The cytoplasm contains cell organelles and fluid surrounding the organelles, known as the
cytosol.
• Intracellular fluid refers to all the fluid inside a cell, cytosol plus the fluid inside all the
organelles, including the nucleus.
• The chemical compositions of the fluids in these cell organelles may differ from that of the
cytosol.
Membranes
• The plasma membrane regulates the passage of substances into and out of the cell.
• The membranes of cell organelles allow the selective movement of substances between
the organelles and the cytosol.

Membrane Structure
• All membranes consist of a
double layer of lipid
molecules containing
embedded proteins.
• The major membrane lipids
are phospholipids, whichare
amphipathic molecules.
• No chemical bonds link the
phospholipids to each other
or to the membrane
proteins, so each molecule
is free to move
independently of the others.
 • The plasma membrane also contains about one molecule of cholesterol for each molecule
of phospholipid, whereas intracellular membranes contain very little cholesterol.
Membrane Proteins
• Integral membrane proteins are closely associated with the membrane lipids and cannot
be extracted from the membrane without disrupting the lipid bilayer.
• These proteins are amphipathic, the polar regions are at the surfaces and the nonpolar
regions are in the interior.
• Most integral proteins span the entire membrane and are referred to as transmembrane
proteins.
• These proteins form channels for ions or water or responsible for transmission of chemical
signals or the anchoring of extracellular and intracellular protein filaments to the plasma
membrane.

Peripheral membrane proteins

• They are located at the membrane surface where they are bound to the polar regions of the
integral membrane proteins.
• Most of the peripheral proteins are on the cytosolic surface of the plasma membrane and
are associated with cytoskeletal elements that influence cell shape and motility.
• These are not amphipathic.
Glycocalyx
• The extracellular surface of the plasma membrane contains small amounts of carbohydrate
covalently linked to some of the membrane lipids and proteins.
• These carbohydrates consist of short, branched chains of monosaccharides that extend from
the cell surface into the extracellular fluid, where they form a layer known as the
glycocalyx.
• These surface carbohydrates play important roles in enabling cells to identify and interact
with each other.
Fluid Mosaic Model
• All membranes have the general structure, which is known as the fluid-mosaic model
because membrane proteins float in a sea of lipid.
• The proteins and the lipids, in the plasma membrane differ from those in organelle
membranes.
Membrane Junctions
• Plasma membranes are involved in the interactions between cells to form tissues.
• There is usually a space between the plasma membranes of adjacent cells.
• This space is filled with extracellular (interstitial) fluid, provides a pathway for substances
to pass between cells on their way to and from the blood.
Cell Adhesion Molecules
• CAMs protrude from the outer membrane surface and form loops or hooks by which cells
grip each other or grasp the connective tissue fibers between cells.
• Cadherins interlock in zipper fashion to help hold the cells within tissues and organs
together.
• Integrins serve as a structural link between the outer membrane surface and its
extracellular surroundings.
 • It also connects the inner membrane surface to the intracellular cytoskeletal elements.
Desmosomes
• Desmosomes consist of a region between two adjacent cells where the apposed plasma
membranes are separated by about 20 nm.
• Desmosomes are characterized by accumulations of protein known as dense plaques along
the cytoplasmic surface of the plasma membrane.
• These proteins serve as anchoring points for cadherins.
• In addition, other proteins such as keratin filaments anchor the cytoplasmic surface of
desmosomes to interior structures of the cell.
• Desmosomes hold adjacent cells firmly together in areas that are subject to considerable
stretching, such as the skin.
Gap Junctions
• These consist of protein channels linking the cytosols of adjacent cells.
• In the gap junction, the two opposing plasma membranes come within 2-4 nm of each
other.
• A connexon protein is made up of six protein subunits arranged in a hollow tube- l i k e
structure.
• The small diameter of connexons (1.5 nm) limits the exchange of large proteins and permit
small molecules and ions, such as sodium and potassium.
• Gap junctions are especially abundant in cardiac muscle and smooth muscle.
 Cell Organelles
• The contents of cells can be released by homogenization or using various chemical methods
to break the plasma membrane.
• The cell organelles can be isolated by subjecting the homogenate to ultracentrifugation.
• Cell organelles of different sizes and density settle out at various rates.
Nucleus
• The nucleus is a distinct spherical or oval
structure, usually located near the center of
the cell.
• A few specialized cells, such as skeletal
muscle cells, contain multiple nuclei,
whereas mature red blood cells have none.
• The primary function of the nucleus is the
storage and transmission of genetic
information to the next generation of cells.
• This information, coded in molecules of
DNA, is also used to synthesize the
proteins that determine the structure and
function of the cell.
• Nucleus is surrounded by a double-layered
membrane, the nuclear envelope, which
separates the nucleus from the rest of the
cell.
• The nuclear envelope is pierced by many nuclear pores that allow necessary traffic to
move between the nucleus and the cytoplasm.
• Within the nucleus, DNA, in association with proteins, forms a fine network of threads
known as chromatin.
• At the time of cell division, the chromatin threads become tightly condensed, forming rod-
like bodies known as chromosomes.
• The most prominent structure in the nucleus is the nucleolus, a densely staining
filamentous region without a membrane.
• Ribosomal RNA and the protein components of ribosomes are assembled in the nucleolus,
then transferred through the nuclear pores to the cytoplasm, where they form functional
ribosomes.
Ribosomes
• Ribosomes are the protein factories of a cell.
• Protein molecules are synthesized from amino acids on ribosomes, using genetic
information carried by messenger RNA molecules.
 • Ribosomes consist of two subunits that are either floating free in the cytoplasm or combine
during protein synthesis.
• The proteins synthesized on the free ribosomes are released into the cytosol.
• The proteins synthesized by ribosomes attached to the rough endoplasmic reticulum pass
into the lumen of the reticulum and are then transferred to yet another organelle, the Golgi
apparatus.
• They are ultimately secreted from the cell or distributed to other organelles.

Endoplasmic Reticulum
• The most extensive cytoplasmic organelle is the network of membranes that forms the
endoplasmic reticulum.
• It is primarily a protein and lipid producing factory.
• Two distinct types of endoplasmic reticulum, the rough ER and the smooth ER can be
distinguished.
Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum
• The rough endoplasmic reticulum has ribosomes bound to its cytosolic surface, and it has
a flattened-sac appearance.
• Rough endoplasmic reticulum is involved in packaging proteins that, after processing in
the Golgi apparatus, are secreted by the cell or distributed to other cell organelles.
Smooth Endoplasmic Reticulum
• The smooth endoplasmic reticulum has no ribosomal particles on its surface and has a
branched, tubular structure.
• It is the site at which certain lipid molecules are synthesized.
 • It plays a role in detoxification of certain hydrophobic molecules, and it also stores and
releases calcium ions involved in controlling various cell activities.

Golgi Apparatus
• Golgi complex consists of a stack of flattened, slightly curved, membrane-enclosed sacs.
• Associated with this organelle, particularly near its concave surface, are a number of
roughly spherical, membrane-enclosed vesicles.
• Proteins arriving at the Golgi apparatus from the rough endoplasmic reticulum undergo a
series of modifications as they pass from one Golgi compartment to the next.
• The Golgi apparatus sorts the modified proteins into discrete classes of transport vesicles
that will travel to various cell organelles or to the plasma membrane.
• Vesicles containing proteins to be secreted from the cell are known as secretory vesicles.
• Such vesicles are found in certain endocrine gland cells, where protein hormones are
released into the extracellular fluid.

Endosomes
• A number of membrane-bound vesicular and tubular structures called endosomes lie
between the plasma membrane and the Golgi apparatus.
• Endosomes are involved in sorting, modifying, and directing vesicular traffic of molecules
coming in cells through endocytosis.
Mitochondria
• Mitochondria are spherical or elongated, rod-like structures surrounded by an inner and an
outer membrane.
• The outer membrane is smooth, whereas the inner membrane is folded into sheets or
tubules known as cristae, which extend into the inner mitochondrial compartment, the
matrix.
• Mitochondria participate in the chemical processes that transfer energy from the chemical
bonds of nutrient molecules to newly created ATP molecules.
• Most of the ATP that cells use is
formed in the mitochondria by a
process called cellular respiration,
which consumes oxygen and produces
carbon dioxide, heat, and water.
• In addition to providing most of the
energy needed to power physiological
events, mitochondria also play a role
in the synthesis of certain lipids, such as the hormones estrogen and testosterone.
Lysosomes
• Lysosomes are spherical or oval organelles surrounded by a single membrane.
• The fluid within a lysosome is acidic and contains a variety of digestive enzymes.
• Lysosomes act as “cellular stomachs,” breaking down bacteria and the debris from dead
cells that have been engulfed by a cell.
• They may also break down cell organelles that have been damaged and no longer function
normally.
• They play an especially important role in the various cells that make up the defense systems
of the body.
Peroxisomes
• Peroxisomes are moderately dense oval bodies enclosed by a single membrane.
• Peroxisomes house several powerful oxidative enzymes and contain most of the cell’s
catalase.
• Peroxisomes consume molecular oxygen, although in much smaller amounts.
• This oxygen is not used in the transfer of energy to ATP.
• Oxidative enzymes remove hydrogen from organic molecules including lipids, alcohol, and
potentially toxic ingested substances.
 • The major product generated in the peroxisome is hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).
• Hydrogen peroxide is potentially destructive if allowed to accumulate or escape from the
confines of the peroxisome.
• Peroxisomes are also involved in the process by which fatty acids are broken down into 2-
carbon fragments, which the cell can then use as a source for generating ATP.
Vaults
• Vaults are recently discovered cytoplasmic
structures composed of protein and a type
of RNA called vault RNA (vRNA).
• These are three times as large as
ribosomes, are shaped like octagonal
barrels.
• The function of vaults is uncertain.
• Nuclear pores are also octagonal and the
same size as vaults, leading to speculation that vaults may be cellular “trucks.”
• Vaults dock at or enter nuclear pores, pick up molecules synthesized in the nucleus, and
deliver their cargo elsewhere in the cell.
• Vaults carry mRNA from the nucleus to the ribosomal sites of protein synthesis within the
cytoplasm.
• They also carry ribosomes as the interior of a vault is the right size to accommodate
ribosomal subunits.
• They are possibly involved in transporting the drugs from the nucleus to sites for exocytosis
from the cancer cells, causing drug resistance.