Membrane transport the lipid bylayer is only permeable to a few uncharged small molecule such CO2 a nd O2 the hydrophobic

bilayer stops diffusion across the membrane by hydrophillic, pol ar or ionic compounds the cells have developed different mechanisms to get ions and metabolites into t he cell intrinsic(integral) proteins span the membrane and allow the passage of molecule s that cannot pass through the lipid bilayer biological membranes also incorporate other types of lipids like cholesterol and membrane proteins there are also periferal membrane proteins that are only bound and exposed on on e side of the membrane many membrane proteins are glycoproteins integral proteins span the bilayer with hydrophobic amino acids interacting with the bilayer many of them are glycoproteins that covalently bond to carbohydrates on the extr acellular surface the periferal proteins are found only on one side of the membrane and are either covalently bonded to the bilayer or other proteins cholesterol is a hydrophobic steroi that helps to maintain the constant membrane fluidity membrane proteins can transport ions and small molecules that do not readily pas s through by passive diffusion this is facilitated diffusion ions may not pass through the membrane due to a hydrophillic nature or moving ag ainst a concentration gradient there are 2 types of membrane transport Passive which requires no energy to transport the molecules this can be called accelerated diffusion it allows ions to move faster than normal diffusion, it brings about an equilibr ium at a faster rate passive transporters do not generate a concentration gradient but only dissipate it Active this involves the use of ATP to move a molecule against a concentration gradient allows high levels of storage of certain substances in cells pores and channels are transporters that can facilitate the passage of molecules across the membrane they have the right size and environment for a particular compound to cross porins are a type of pore that form aqueous channels and accelerate the passive diffusion of hydrophillic small molecules the solute(molecule) selectivity of a porin is determined by the characteristics of the amino acid side chains at the entrance and interior lining of the pore, as well as size of opening

the positively charged regions at the mouth of the pore and at the constriction site makes the pore specific for small anions Ion channels are alot more complex than porins, generally they need more than on e subunit to for a passageway channel-like transporters that only open when stimulated are called gated channe ls the signal could be through ligand bonding to the transporter, pH change or chan ge in membrane potential after stimulation the gate opens by a structural change that move a polypeptide segment from the channel some transport proteins do not have a channel or pore but instead bind molecules selectively and change their structure to allow them to pass through these "bind and release conformational transporters" can be classified as unipor t, symport or antiport the name depends on how many solutes they can transport and the direction of tra nsport Uniport these are found in the cells of the liver they shuttle glucose between the liver and bloodstream it moves only one solute the direction of movement solely depends on the concentration gradient Symport this is not a passive process, the potential energy of a steep gradient of one m olecule is dissapated and used to drive another molecule against a concentration gradient it can so this with many different molecules Antiport involves active transport the free energy of ATP hydrolysis is used to drive a molecule against its concen tration gradient this is used to maintain the membrane potential in neurons