PBPN (ANT2004)

TUTORIAL 1: TRANSMEMBRANE TRANSPORT

Name : _____________________ Tutorial Class : _________ Date :____________

TASK 1: Answer questions 1-3 using these words. You may use these words more than once,
or not at all.

sodium aquaporins potassium

simple diffusion PQ water carrier
osmosis hydrophilic facilitated diffusion
hemolysed ion channels hypotonic filtration
hypertonic isotonic into out of
active transport equilibrium down XY

1. A living cell (PQ) with its ICF containing 18% glucose, 12% KCl

and 70% H2 O is sustained in a petri dish in a liquid (XY)

containing 25% glucose, 18% KCl and 57% H2 0.

At the beginning of this experiment, _________ is hypertonic relative to PQ. ____________

moves from the compartment with higher water concentration to the compartment with

lower water concentration by ______________ via _____________. Glucose moves

__________ the concentration gradient by _____________________ with the help of

___________ proteins while Cl- ions can use ___________________ to cross the cell

membrane. At the end of the experiment, the content of PQ’s ICF became ___________ to

XY.

2. Red blood cells are placed in distilled water.

After several minutes, the red blood cells are ____________________ as the distilled water

is _____________ relative to cells. Water molecules move _________ the cells via

_____________.

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3. Freshwater fish live in a ____________environment.

The freshwater fish pump filtrate into their nephrons via _________________. To maintain

homeostasis of its ECF, essential nutrients are reabsorbed and returned to the blood but

most of the water is excreted as urine.

Marine fish face the opposite problem as the salt content of

sea water (~3%) is so _______________ that they are in continual

danger of dehydration.

To maintain homeostasis, cartilaginous fish (sharks, skates and rays) maintain high levels

of urea in their blood. This makes their blood _________________to sea water, so the

fish lives in osmotic balance with its environment. Their kidneys function like ours

(except that far more urea is reabsorbed back).

Marine bony fishes solve this problem differently. They drink sea water but desalt it

by removing ________________ ions by _______________ at their gills.

4. Explain the following observations.

a. Water enters a cell by simple diffusion via the plasma membrane but Na+ ions cannot.

b. CO2 can pass through the plasma membrane of erythrocytes via simple diffusion but

HCO 3 - cannot.

c. Carrier proteins transport glucose molecules into a cell via facilitated diffusion but not

glucose 6-phosphate molecules.

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5. Albumin diluted in physiological saline (0.9% NaCl, which is isotonic to the

human plasma) is used for intravenous infusion. A pharmacist mistakenly used
sterile water as a diluent instead of the physiological saline.
(Case adapted from a report in April 1998 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine)
Explain the consequences when this solution is administered to a patient.
Justify your answer.

6. The semi-permeable membrane allows free

B A passage of water molecules, but not the solutes.

In which direction will there be net movement of

100mM NaCl 100mM glucose
water? Justify your answer.

Semi-permeable
membrane

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TASK 2:
1. Comparing carrier and channel proteins:

Carrier Proteins Channel Proteins

ONE similarity

Any THREE differences

1.

2.

3.

2. How the antiport chloride-bicarbonate exchanger in erythrocytes (RBCs) helps

increase the efficiency of respiratory gas exchange:

_____________________ produced by respiring tissues diffuse into the RBC via _______

______________________ down a concentration gradient.

In the RBC, CO2 + H2 O  H+ + HCO3 -, catalysed by the enzyme__________________.

HCO 3 - is transported out of the RBC via the chloride-bicarbonate exchanger (the speed

of transport is enhanced by a factor of more than a million) with a simultaneous

opposite transport of Cl- to maintain electro-neutrality (the ratio of exchange is __: __ ).

At the lungs, the reverse takes place. HCO3 - is transported back into the RBC in place

of Cl- and undergoes the following reaction: HCO3 - + H+  H2 O + CO2 .

CO2 then diffuses out of the RBC into the ____________ and is breathed out.

3. How cells maintain the concentrations of Na+ and K+ in the ICF and ECF:

ICF ECF

Na+ 14 mEq/L Na+ 140 mEq/L

K+ 120 mEq/L K+ 4 mEq/L

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3 molecules of Na+ bind to the antiport _____________________ which then gets

phosphorylated by _______, changing its conformation. Na + is released outside the cell

while 2 molecules of K+ bind to the carrier protein instead.

The carrier protein gets dephosphorylated and returns to its original conformation. This

causes the K+ to get released in the cell. The cycle repeats itself. Both Na + and K+ are

transported _______________ their concentration gradients.

4. How cells absorb both glucose and sodium together from sports drinks:

The ATP-dependent primary active transport of Na+ out of cells (via the _____________)

establishes a low concentration of Na= in the enterocytes. This causes an influx of Na +

from the intestinal lumen, _____________ its concentration gradient via the Na+/glucose

transporter. This carrier protein simultaneously transports in glucose molecules

_________________ their concentration gradient. One molecule of glucose and one

molecule of Na+ are brought in together via this symport pump, an example of

__________________ active transport as the mechanism depends indirectly on ATP.

5. Cholesterol uptake by cells:

Cells selectively take in cholesterol molecules via ___________________________(RME).

LDL molecules carrying cholesterol bind with LDL ______________ on cell membranes.

Upon binding, the plasma membrane folds to form a coated pit, which then pinches off

to form a coated vesicle. The vesicle loses its coat and fuses with a bigger vesicle called

an endosome. _____________ fuses with the endosome to release enzymes to digest the

LDL molecules, releasing cholesterol. The receptors are _________________ back to the

cell membrane to bring in more LDL molecules as required by the cell.

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