FLOW OF REPORTINGS

SIMPLE DIFFUSION

The same will happen with molecules of any type: as a population, they tend to move from an area
where they’re more concentrated to an area where they’re less concentrated. To understand this,
imagine that there’s an area where molecules are more concentrated (such as where ammonia has just
been opened) and an area where they’re less concentrated (the surrounding room). Since there are
lots of ammonia molecules in the concentrated area, it’s pretty likely that one will move from there
into the non-concentrated area. But since there are few molecules of ammonia in the non-
concentrated area, it’s pretty unlikely that the reverse will happen.

Thus, over time, the net movement of molecules will be out of the more concentrated area and into
the less concentrated one, until the concentrations become equal (at which point, it’s equally likely for
a molecule to move in either direction). This process does not require any energy input; in fact, a
concentration gradient itself is a form of stored (potential) energy, and this energy is used up as the
concentrations equalize.

SIMPLE DIFFUSION EXAMPLES

Examples of Simple Diffusion

Carbon Dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a small molecule that can be dissolved into water. If you’ve ever enjoyed a bubbly
soda, you know this. However, you might not know that the same mechanism is transporting the
carbon dioxide that your cells create into your bloodstream and out of your body via your lungs.
Carbon dioxide is small enough to move through simple diffusion through your tissues and out of your
body. If you hold your breath for a short time, you will begin to feel a burning “desire to breathe”.
This is caused by the accumulation of carbon dioxide in sensitive nerve tissues in your bloodstream,
lungs and brain. When you begin to breathe again, the carbon dioxide diffuses out of your system.
Many gases are able to do this through your lungs including oxygen, nitrogen, and many others in the
atmosphere.

B. FASCILITATED TRANSPORT

However, the substances that undergo facilitated transport would otherwise not diffuse easily or quickly
across the plasma membrane. The solution to moving polar substances and other substances across the
plasma membrane rests in the proteins that span its surface.

first attached to protein or glycoprotein receptors on the exterior surface of the plasma membrane. This
allows the material that is needed by the cell to be removed from the extracellular fluid. The substances
are then passed to specific integral proteins that facilitate their passage, because they form channels or
pores that allow certain substances to pass through the membrane. The integral proteins involved in
facilitated transport are collectively referred to as transport proteins, and they function as either channel
for the material or carriers.
FLUID MOSAIC MODEL

The principal components of the plasma membrane are lipids (phospholipids and cholesterol), proteins,
and carbohydrate groups that are attached to some of the lipids and proteins.

A phospholipid is a lipid made of glycerol, two fatty acid tails, and a phosphate-linked head group.
Biological membranes usually involve two layers of phospholipids with their tails pointing inward, an
arrangement called a phospholipid bilayer.

Cholesterol, another lipid composed of four fused carbon rings, is found alongside phospholipids in the
core of the membrane.

Membrane proteins may extend partway into the plasma membrane, cross the membrane entirely, or be
loosely attached to its inside or outside face.

Carbohydrate groups are present only on the outer surface of the plasma membrane and are attached to
proteins, forming glycoproteins, or lipids, forming glycolipids.

The proportions of proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates in the plasma membrane vary between different
types of cells. For a typical human cell, however, proteins account for about 50 percent of the
composition by mass, lipids (of all types) account for about 40 percent, and the remaining 10 percent
comes from carbohydrates.

PHOSPHOLIPID BILAYER

The cell membrane is exposed to water mixed with electrolytes and other materials on the outside and
the inside of the cell. When cellular membranes form, phospholipids assemble into two layers because
of these hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties. The phosphate heads in each layer face the aqueous or
watery environment on either side, and the tails hide away from the water between the layers of heads,
because they are hydrophobic.

The hydrophilic heads of phospholipids in a membrane bilayer face outward, contacting the aqueous
(watery) fluid both inside and outside the cell. Since water is a polar molecule, it readily forms
electrostatic (charge-based) interactions with the phospholipid heads.

The phospholipid bilayer formed by these interactions makes a good barrier between the interior and
exterior of the cell, because water and other polar or charged substances cannot easily cross the
hydrophobic core of the membrane.

PROTEINS

The portions of an integral membrane protein found inside the membrane are hydrophobic, while those
that are exposed to the cytoplasm or extracellular fluid tend to be hydrophilic. Transmembrane proteins
may cross the membrane just once or may have as many as twelve different membrane-spanning
sections. A typical membrane-spanning segment consists of 20-25 hydrophobic amino acids arranged in
an alpha helix, although not all transmembrane proteins fit this model. Some integral membrane
proteins form a channel that allows ions or other small molecules to pass, as shown below.
CARBOHYDRATES

Along with membrane proteins, these carbohydrates form distinctive cellular markers, sort of like
molecular ID badges, that allow cells to recognize each other. These markers are very important in the
immune system, allowing immune cells to differentiate between body cells, which they shouldn’t attack,
and foreign cells or tissues, which they should.