Senior High School

NOT

General Biology 1
Quarter 1 - Module 6
Cell: the basic unit of life
Lesson
Transport
Mechanisms

6
6.3 Transport Mechanisms in Cells

6.4 Endocytosis vs. Exocytosis

What’s In

• REVIEW: Transport Mechanisms in Cells (Diffusion, Osmosis,

Facilitated Transport, Active Transport) to its Function

Plasma membranes must allow certain substances to enter and leave a cell, and
prevent some harmful materials from entering and some essential materials from leaving.
In other words, plasma membranes are selectively permeable—they allow some
substances to pass through, but not others. If they were to lose this selectivity, the cell
would no longer be able to sustain itself, and it would be destroyed. Some cells require
larger amounts of specific substances. They must have a way of obtaining these
materials from extracellular fluids. This may happen passively, as certain materials move
back and forth, or the cell may have special mechanisms that facilitate transport. Some
materials are so important to a cell that it spends some of its energy, hydrolyzing
adenosine triphosphate (ATP), to obtain these materials. Red blood cells use some of
their energy doing just that. Most cells spend the majority of their energy to maintain an
imbalance of sodium and potassium ions between the cell's interior and exterior, as well
as on protein synthesis.

The most direct forms of membrane transport are passive. Passive transport is
a naturally occurring phenomenon and does not require the cell to exert any of its energy
to accomplish the movement. In passive transport, substances move from an area of
higher concentration to an area of lower concentration. A physical space in which there
is a single substance concentration range has a concentration gradient.
Selective Permeability

Plasma membranes lack symmetry: the membrane's exterior is not identical to its
interior (Fig. 7.h). There is a significant difference between the arrangement of proteins
and phospholipids and between the two leaflets that form a membrane. On the
membrane's interior, some proteins serve to anchor the membrane to cytoskeleton's
fibers. There are peripheral proteins on the membrane's exterior that bind extracellular
matrix elements. Carbohydrates, attached to lipids or proteins, are also on the plasma
membrane's exterior surface (Figure 7.b). These carbohydrate complexes help the cell
bind required substances in the extracellular fluid. This adds considerably to plasma
membrane's selective nature.

Fig. 7.h. molecular view of the cell membrane. Intrinsic proteins penetrate and bind tightly to the lipid
bilayer, which is made up largely of phospholipids and cholesterol and which typically is between 4 and 10
nanometers (nm; 1 nm = 10−9 metre) in thickness. Extrinsic proteins are loosely bound to the hydrophilic
(polar) surfaces, which face the watery medium both inside and outside the cell. Some intrinsic proteins
present sugar side chains on the cell's outer surface. 2007 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Fig. 7.i. Structural Component of Cellular Membrane

 The plasma membrane's exterior surface is not identical to its interior surface.
Recall that plasma membranes are amphiphilic: They have hydrophilic and hydrophobic
regions. This characteristic helps move some materials through the membrane and
hinders the movement of others. Non-polar and lipid-soluble material with a low
molecular weight can easily slip through the membrane's hydrophobic lipid core.
Substances such as the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K readily pass through the
plasma membranes in the digestive tract and other tissues. Fat-soluble drugs and
hormones also gain easy entry into cells and readily transport themselves into the body‘s
tissues and organs. Oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules have no charge and pass
through membranes by simple diffusion.

Polar substances present problems for the membrane. While some polar
molecules connect easily with the cell's outside, they cannot readily pass through the
plasma membrane's lipid core. Additionally, while small ions could easily slip through the
spaces in the membrane's mosaic, their charge prevents them from doing so. Ions such
as sodium, potassium, calcium, and chloride must have special means of penetrating
plasma membranes. Simple sugars and amino acids also need the help of various
transmembrane proteins (channels) to transport themselves across plasma membranes.

Key Takes of the Permeability of the Lipid Bilayer: • Hydrophobic (nonpolar) molecules,
such as hydrocarbons, can dissolve in the lipid bilayer and pass through the membrane
rapidly.
• Hydrophilic (Polar) molecules, such as sugars, do not cross the membrane easily.

Fig. 7.i. Substances highly impermeable to cross membrane like large uncharged polar molecules (glucose
and fructose), charged molecules and finally ALL IONS. But, Transport proteins are used to transport ions
across membrane.
The Transport Mechanisms

1. DIFFUSION
Passive movement of molecules from a region of high concentration to a region of low
concentration.
(Concentration gradient is the difference in concentration between the two
regions)
Small, uncharged molecules like O2, CO2 and H2O can move easily through the
membrane.
Works well over short distances. Once molecules enter the cell, the rate of diffusion
slows.
Limits cell size.

Fig. 7.j. Diffusion through a permeable membrane moves a substance from a high concentration area
(extracellular fluid, in this case) down its concentration gradient (into the cytoplasm).

2. OSMOSIS
Diffusion of the solvent across a semi-permeable membrane separating two
solutions. (Diffusion of water)
Water molecules move from a region of high concentration to a region of low
concentration.
Direction depends on the relative concentration of water molecules on either side of
the cell membrane.
 Isotonic: Water inside the cell equals the water outside the cell and equal amounts
of water move in and out of the cell.
Hypotonic: Water outside the cell is greater than that inside the cell, water moves
into the cell, may cause cell to burst (lysis)
Hypertonic: Water inside the cell is greater than outside. Water moves out of the
cell, may cause the cell to shrink (plasmolysis)

Fig. 7.k. Movement of water molecules from high concentration to low concentration, through a
semipermeable membrane.

3. FACILITATED TRANSPORT (ALSO KNOWN AS FACILITATED DIFFUSION OR

PASSIVE-MEDIATED TRANSPORT)
Assists with the movement of large molecules like glucose.
Passive movement of a substance into or out of the cell by means of carrier proteins
or channel proteins.
Moves molecules from high to low regions of concentration.
Carrier proteins: Transports noncharged molecules with a specific
shape.
Channel proteins: Tunnel shape that transports small charged
molecules.
DOES NOT REQUIRE water molecules for other molecules to transfer.
Fig. 7.l. Facilitated diffusion in cell membrane, showing ion channels and carrier proteins.

4. ACTIVE TRANSPORT
The process of moving substances against their concentration gradients Requires
Energy.
Examples:
Kidney cells pump glucose and amino acids out of the urine and back
into the blood.
Intestinal cells pump in nutrients from the gut.
Root cells pump in nutrients from the soil.
Gill cells in fish pump out sodium ions.

Fig. 7.m. Active transport: Requires the use of chemical energy to move substances across a membrane,
against a concentration gradient. Active transport proteins may be uniports, symports, or antiports.
 Active Transport Pump: Sodium-potassium
pump
3 sodium ions inside the cell and 2 potassium ions outside the cell bind to the
pump.
This allows the release of energy from ATP and causes the protein complex
to change shape.
The change in shape allow the Na+ and K+ ions to move across and be
released.

Fig. 7.n. In Primary active transport, energy from the hydrolysis of ATP is used to move ions into or out
of cells against their concentration gradients. The sodium-potassium pump is an important example.

Fig. 7.o. Secondary active transport couples the passive movement of one substance with its
concentration gradient to the movement of another substance against its concentration gradient. Energy
from ATP is used indirectly to establish the concentration gradient that results in the movement of the first
substance.
5. BULK TRANSPORT
1. Endocytosis: The cell membrane folds inward, traps and encloses a small
amount of matter from the extracellular fluid.

2. Exocytosis: The reverse of endocytosis: A vesicle from inside the cell moves to
the cell membrane. The vesicle fuses to the membrane and the contents are secreted.

Fig. 7.p. Exocytosis and Endocytosis

Difference between Endocytosis and Exocytosis

Endocytosis refers to the

Exocytosis refers to the
transportation of
transportation of
macromolecules, large
molecules or particles
Definition particles, and polar
from the cell to the
substances into the cell
outside of the cell
from the external
environment

Involved with up taking Involved in removing

Process
nutrients into the cell waste from the cell

Occurs by both Occurs by constitutive

Type phagocytosis and and regulated secretory
pinocytosis pathway
 Internal vesicles like Secretory vesicles are
Vesicle
phagosomes are formed formed

Cell Wall
Not involved Involved
Formation

Engulfing bacteria by Releasing of hormones

Example phagocytes is an out of the cell is an
example example

3 Types of Endocytosis:

Pinocytosis: The intake of a small droplet of extracellular fluid. This occurs in

nearly all cell types.
Phagocytosis: The intake of a large droplet of extracellular fluid. This occurs in
specialized cells.
Receptor-assisted endocytosis: The intake of specific molecules that attach to
special proteins in the cell membrane. These proteins are uniquely
shaped to fit the shape of a specific molecule.

Fig. 7.q. Secondary active transport couples the passive movement of one substance with its
concentration gradient to the movement of another substance against its concentration gradient. Energy
from ATP is used indirectly to establish the concentration gradient that results in the movement of the first
substance.