Model answers to ‘Explain why’ questions of item examination on 4.6.

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a) Why presence of long chain fatty acids makes the cell membrane stiffer?
Ans: The cell membrane, as described by the ‘fluid mosaic’ model is predominantly a
phospholipid bilayer. The fluidity of any phospholipid bilayer is dependant on the
type of fatty acids chains it is made up of. When the constituent fatty acids are long
chained and mostly saturated the ‘phase transition temperature’ (the temperature at
which the bilayer changes from a fluid ‘sol’ state to a rigid ‘gel’ state) is increased i.e.
the freezing point for the bilayer membrane is higher (fluidity is low). Also long chain
fatty acids have straight tails which leads to greater interaction between the chains
and more tight packing, making the membrane less fluid.

b) Why are cells of the bone marrow, intestinal epithelium, hair follicles etc. more
vulnerable to anticancer drugs?
Ans: Most anti-cancer drugs cause death of proliferating cancer cells either by
damaging the DNA in the S-phase of the cell cycle or by arresting mitosis during the
M-phase of the cell cycle. In other words. most anti-cancer drugs are effective only
when the offending neoplasm is rapidly growing as these drugs do not act during the
G0, G1 or G2 phases. However, normal body tissues which are rapidly proliferating,
like bone marrow, intestinal epithelium, hair follicle etc. are also affected by these
drugs for the same reason leading to anemia, alopecia and gastro-intestinal ulcers in
patients treated with anti-cancer drugs.

c) Why ion-specific membrane channels do not allow other ions to pass through them
even when they are smaller than the channel pore?
Ans: The fact that smaller ions cannot pass through ion-channels meant for larger ions
of same charge is explained by ‘closest-fit’ hypothesis.

The smaller an ion, the more localized is its charge and stronger its electrical field.
Smaller ions such as Na+ (crystal radius of 0.095 nm) have stronger effective electrical
fields than larger ions like K+ (crystal radius of 0.133 nm). As a result, smaller ions
attract water more strongly. Thus, the strong electrostatic attraction for water causes
Na+ to have a larger water shell. So a ‘larger’ Na+ ion cannot enter the smaller outer
pore of the K+ ion channel.

But ‘smaller’ K+ ion does not pass through ‘larger’ Na+ channels because for passing
completely through a channel, an ion has to negotiate two barriers: an outer pore, and
a ‘selectivity filter’ located midway inside the channel. The ion passes the outer pore
with its complete water of hydration. Near the selectivity filter the water shell is shed
as electrostatic bonds form between the ion and the carboxyl group of polar amino
acids that line the channel wall. The ion that closely fits the pore of the selectivity filter
in its un-hydrated state passes through while a larger ion fails to pass.

d) Why cellular death is accompanied by cellular swelling?

Ans: A living cell contains impermeable protein anions. This imposes Gibbs-Donnan
equilibrium and leads to more ions inside the cell than outside it. As a result water
always tend to move inside the cell by osmosis, which will inevitably rupture the cell
if not countered. A living cell in order to survive, continuously pump out excess ions
with the help of ATP driven pumps like Na+K+ATPase. When a cell dies, the cell swells
up as the pump stops, and this phenomenon is referred to as ‘cloudy swelling’.