Cells to Plasma

Membrane
By:
Faija A. Adam
Brief History of Cell
• Robert Hooke first discovered cells in 1665, he gave them their name
because they resembled the cella (Latin for “ small rooms” were
monks live in monasteries.
• Humans are made up of trillions of cells- the basic unit of life on
earth.
• Cells is a smallest unit that can live on its own and that makes up all
living organisms and tissues of the body. A cell is also a mass of
cytoplasm that is bound externally by a cell membrane. Usually
microscopic in size, cells are the smallest structured units of living
matter and compose of all living things.
° Cell Membrane
The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane (PM) or cytoplasmic
membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological
membrane that separates the interior of all cells from the outside environment
(the extra cellular space) which protects the cell from its environment.
The cell membrane consist of a Lipid Bilayer, including cholesterols (a lipid
component) that sit between phospholipids to maintain their fluidity at various
temperatures.
The cell membrane also contains membrane proteins, including integral
proteins that go across the membrane serving as membrane transporters, and
peripheral proteins that loosely attach to the outer (peripheral) side of the cell
membrane, acting as enzymes shaping the cell.
 The cell membrane controls the movement of substance in and out of
cells and organelles.
° Robert Hooke’s discovery of cells in 1665 led to the proposed of the
cell theory, Hooke misled the cell membrane theory that all cell
contained a hard cell wall since only plant cells could be observed at
the time.
° In 19±h century, cells were recognized as being separate entities,
unconnected, and bound by individual cell walls after it was found that
plant cells could be separated.
• By the second half of the 19±h century, microscopy was still not
advanced enough.
• In 1890, an update to the Cell Theory stated cell membrane existed.
° Plasma Membrane
• To ensure each cell remains separate from its neighbor. It is enveloped
in a special membrane known as the plasma membrane. This
membrane is pre-dominantly made of phospholipids, which prevent
water- based substances from entering the cell. The plasma
membrane contains a range of receptors, which carry out a number of
tasks, including being:
• Gate keepers: these receptors allow certain molecules through and
stop otbers.
• Markers: these receptors act as name badges, informing the immune
system that they are part of the organism and not a foreign invader.
• Communicators: some receptors help the cell communicate with
other cells and the environment.
• Fasteners: some receptors help blind the cell to its neighbors.
° Cells to Plasma Membrane
Cells to plasma membrane, the cell membrane, also called the
plasma membrane, is found in all cells and separates the interior of the
cell from the outside environment. The cell membrane consist of a lipid
bilayer that is semipermeable. The cell membrane regulates the
transport of material entering and exiting the cell.
• In bacterial and plant cells, a cell wall is attached to the plasma
membrane on its outside surface.
• The plasma membrane, or the cell membrane, provides protection for
a cell. It also provide fixed environment inside the cell. And that
membrane has several different functions.
What are those functions?
1.) One is to transport the nutrients into the cell and also the transport of
toxic substances out of the cell
2.) Another is that the membrane of the cell, which would be the plasma
membrane, will have proteins on it which interact with other cells.
• Those proteins can be glycopretein, there’s a sugar and a protein
moiety, or they could be lipid proteins, meaning there’s a fat and a
protein. And those proteins which stick outside of the plasma
membrane will allow for one cell to interact with another cell. The cell
membrane also provides some structural support for a cell.
Cell membrane protect and organized cells. All cells have an outer
plasma membrane that regulates not only what enters the cell, but also
how much of any given substance come in. Unlike prokaryotes,
eukaryotic cells also possess internal membranes that encase their
organelles and control the exchange of essential cell components.