CELL PHYSIOLOGY Transport across the membranes

ANATOMY OF A MODEL CELL

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 PLASMA MEMBRANE
Functions of the plasma membrane
 Protection
 Physical isolation
 Barrier
 Transport
 Ions and nutrients
 Wastes elimination and secretion
 Interaction with other cells
 Extracellular fluid composition and chemical
signals
 Structural support
 Anchors cells and tissues
 CELL MEMBRANES
Fluid mosaic model: a membrane is
a fluid structure with a “mosaic” of
proteins embedded in it Model of a typical animal cell plasma membrane

Cell membrane components

▪ phospholipids
▪ proteins
▪ other lipids (e.g., cholesterol,
sphingolipids)

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 MEMBRANE LIPIDS
Phospholipids
 The most abundant lipids
• Amphipathic of phospholipids leads to
bilayer structure
 Hydrophilic heads—face outward on
both sides, toward watery environments
 Hydrophobic fatty-acid tails—inside
membrane
• Phospholipid bilayer
• Boundary between two aqueous compartments
 Semi-permeable barrier to ions and
water-soluble compounds
 PHOSPHOGLYCERIDES
Specialized membranes
 varying types and proportions of lipids

Phosphoglycerides
 a structural component of biological membranes
Sphingolipids
 protect the cell surface
 a mechanically stable and chemically resistant
outer leaflet

Glycolipids
 maintain the stability of the cell membrane
 facilitate cellular recognition

Cholesterol
 various effects on membrane properties
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 CHOLESTEROL AND MEMBRANE FLUIDITY
Cholesterol
• reduces permeability to low molecular
weight solutes
• disrupts interactions between fatty acids
and enhances membrane fluidity at
different temperatures
• At warm temperatures
• it restrains movement of phospholipids
• prevents the membrane from becoming too fluid
At cool temperatures
• maintains fluidity by preventing tight
packing
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 MEMBRANE HETEROGENEITY
Different types of lipids
• Inner layer (PE and PS)
• Outer layer (PC)
Lipid rafts: regions enriched with
cholesterol, glycolipids, and sphingolipids
• Provide microcompartments for specialized
Phosphatidylcholine (PC)
functions
• Internalization of ligands and receptors (raft-
dependent endocytosis).
Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) Phosphatidylserine (PS)
Cells regulate the fluidity of the membranes
Many animals
▪ actively remodel their membranes to
compensate for the effects of environment 8
MEMBRANE PROTEINS
Proteins determine most of
membrane’s specific functions
Peripheral
Integral
Transmembrane
The hydrophobic regions of an
integral protein
stretches of nonpolar amino acids
coiled
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FUNCTIONS OF MEMBRANE PROTEINS
Six major functions of membrane
proteins
 Transport (transport proteins)
 Enzymatic activity (enzymes)
 Signal transduction (receptors)
 Cell-cell recognition (glycoproteins)
 Intercellular joining (e.g.,
cadherins)
 Attachment to the cytoskeleton and
extracellular matrix (ECM)
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REVIEW
Each of the following is a function of
membranes except
A) defining cell and organelle
boundaries.
B) sites for specific biochemical
functions.
C) information storage.
D) regulation of transport.
E) cell–cell communication.
REVIEW
The most prominent lipids in animal
cell membranes are
A) phospholipids.
B) glycolipids.
C) cholesterol.
D) phytosterol.
E) phosphatidylcholine.
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 MEMBRANE TRANSPORT
Exchange materials with surroundings
 controlled by the plasma membrane

Selectively permeable Animation: Membrane Selectivity

 regulate the cell’s molecular traffic Right-click slide / select “Play”

Hydrophobic (nonpolar) molecules

 passive diffusion down the concentration gradient (passive transport)

Osmosis - water molecules

 diffuse toward the solution with more solutes
Hydrophilic (polar) molecules do not cross membrane easily
 they cross membranes through transport proteins
 by facilitated diffusion down the concentration gradient (passive transport)
 by active transport against the concentration gradient
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 Ion channel proteins

FACILITATED DIFFUSION
Transport proteins aid the passive
movement of hydrophilic molecules
across membrane
 Ion channel proteins – 3 types Aquaporin
 provide corridors that allow a specific
molecule or ion to cross
 Porins
 aquaporins facilitate diffusion of water Carrier proteins
through the plasma membrane
▪Carrier proteins – permeases
 glucose permease
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 ACTIVE TRANSPORT
Active transport moves substances against their
concentration gradients
 requires energy
 transport proteins

Primary active transport

 The carrier protein uses hydrolysis of ATP to provide the energy
to transport a molecule
 ATPases
 P-type – sodium-potassium pump (NA+/K+), calcium pump (Ca2+)
 V-type – proton pump (H+)
 ABC transporters – large organic molecules, toxins, drugs

Secondary active transport

 Uses electrochemical gradient of one molecule
 Transport of another molecule
 Symport (cotransporter) – NA+ and glucose
 Antiport (exchanger) – Cl-/HCO3+
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REVIEW
A

Name the following proteins:

A.
B.
B
C.

C
REVIEW
Water moves across the plasma membrane into or
out of a cell by osmosis when
A) there is an equal solute concentration on both
sides of the membrane.
B) water diffuses through a semipermeable
membrane toward a higher solute concentration.
C) water diffuses through a semipermeable
membrane toward a lower solute concentration.
D) a high solute concentration opens an
aquaporin channel.
E) ATP hydrolysis drives aquaporin transport.
 CHARGE SEPARATION ACROSS
THE PLASMA MEMBRANE
Positive charges - outside
Negative charges - inside
Separation of charges - electrical gradient
The voltage difference across a membrane - membrane potential
Electrophysiology – study of these potentials
Resting membrane potential – membrane potential when cell is at rest
 measured in millivolts (mV);
 value is negative - inside of cell is more negative
 depending on cell type - from −10 mV to −100 mV
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MEMBRANE POTENTIAL, EQUILIBRIUM POTENTIAL
AND RESTING POTENTIAL
VIDEO Membrane Potential, Equilibrium Potential and Resting Potential

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 MEMBRANE POTENTIAL The sodium-potassium pump

Two forces - electrochemical gradient

 A chemical force (the ion’s concentration gradient)
 An electrical force (effect of membrane potential on
ion’s movement)
Ion pumps maintain resting membrane
potential
 Voltage
An electrogenic pump is a transport protein
that generates voltage across a membrane
 The sodium-potassium pump
 Another is a proton pump
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 MEMBRANE POTENTIAL
Ion permeability – major factor
▪ creating resting membrane potential
Changes in ion permeability cause changes in
membrane potential
 Alterations in permeability of membranes
VIDEO: Nernst equation
 By opening and closing the ion channels

Equilibrium potential, Eion, calculations: Nernst Goldman equation:

equation
 Electrical potential difference across the membrane that exactly
balances the concentration gradient ( =0)

Membrane potential calculations: Goldman equation

 Weighted average of the equilibrium potentials of the
permeant ions
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HYPERPOLARIZATION AND DEPOLARIZATION
Mammalian neurons:
Outside the cell:
 [Na+] = 10 x greater than inside; ENa = +58 mV
and
[K+] = 1/40 less than inside; EK = -90 mV
 The resting membrane potential = -70 mV
If Na+ permeability of the membrane
increases
 Na+ enters the cell
 Reduction in the magnitude of action potential
 Depolarization
If K+ permeability of the membrane increases
 K+ move out the cell
 Increase in the magnitude of action potential
 Hyperpolarization
The resting membrane potential = -70 mV
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REVIEW
Most cells have a negative plasma membrane
potential (Vm) because they have
A) equal concentrations of ions on both sides of
the membrane.
B) an excess of negatively charged solute
molecules inside the cell.
C) an excess of positively charged solute
molecules inside the cell.
D) an excess of negatively charged solute
molecules outside the cell.
E) an excess of water molecules inside the cell.
 VESICULAR TRANSPORT
Bulk transport - materials move into or out of a
cell in vesicles
Endocytosis (endo- = inside)
▪ the importation of extracellular materials
▪ endosomes form - requires ATP
 Receptor-mediated endocytosis
 Receptors - glycoproteins
 Clathrin-coated pits of plasma membrane enter cell
 Pinocytosis
 “drinking” extracellular fluid – endosomes: coated vesicles
 Phagocytosis
 Cytoplasmic extensions (pseudopodia)
 large objects are engulfed in phagosomes
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  Transport of substances - coated
vesicles
INTRACELLULAR TRAFFIC  Protein coats
 Bend the membrane and form a vesicle.
 Specific substances
 Types of vesicles
 COPII-coated vesicles
 move materials from the ER “forward” to the
ERGIC and Golgi complex.
COPI-coated vesicles  COPI-coated vesicles
 move materials from ERGIC and Golgi
“backward” to ER, or from the trans Golgi to the
cis Golgi cisternae.
Clathrin-coated vesicles  Clathrin-coated vesicles
 move materials from the TGN to endosomes or
lysosomes
COPII-coated vesicles  Secretory vesicles
 carry products to the plasma membrane

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 TRANSPORT OF SOLUTES THROUGH EPITHELIAL
TISSUE
Epithelial tissue
▪ Transporters
▪ ATPases, ion channels, and
electroneutral cotransporters and
exchangers Tight epithelium
▪ Different transporters
▪ On apical and the basolateral
membrane.
▪ On adjacent cell membranes
▪ In different cells
Most of the solute transport occurs through the Leaky epithelium
epithelial tissue
• Transcellular transport (tight epithelium)
• Paracellular transport (leaky epithelium)
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HOMEWORK
Moodle Quiz 2