Physiology

(1)
For pharmacy
students
 lecture 2
From past lecture:
➢ Functional organization of HumanBody
➢ Composition of Human Body
➢ Body Compartments
➢ The Concept of Homeostatsis
Requirments of life:
➢ Oxygen

➢ Nutrients: Water, Energy-yielding

nutrients/ and body bulding nutrients, and
micronutrients (i.e. vitamines and minirals).

➢ Energy-yielding nutrients are mainly carbohydrates and

lipids.

The Concept of Homeostasis

Homeostasis: is a process by which organisms
maintain stability while adjusting to conditions best
for their survival (self-regulation).
Ex: blood glucose homeostasis.
• Further, it’s a vital characteristic of an organism,
and cells within such an organism, and can
involve changes in nutrition, metabolism,
growth, and motility.

• From cellular machineries for nutrients uptake

and utilization, to removal of cellular waste.
Physiology of Cell Membrane
Objective:
✓ Describe the molecular components that make up the cell membrane.
✓ Explain the major features and properties of the cell membrane.
✓ Differentiate between materials that can and cannot diffuse through
the lipid bilayer.
✓ Compare and contrast different types of passive transport with active
transport, providing examples of each.

What do we mean by a membrane:

A membrane: Any barrier that covers/surrounds
a structure and separate it from other structures.
➢ Cell membrane also known as plasma membrane.
➢ Is a very pliable structure.
➢ Composed of back-to-back phospholipids (The
composition of membranes is phospholipids bilayer.)
Membrane Components:
➢Also known as plasma membrane.
➢Is a very pliable structure.
➢ Composed of back-to-back phospholipids
➢ A polar and hydrophilic head
➢ Uncharged and a hydrophobic tail
➢ An important feature is that it remains fluid;
the lipids and proteins in the cell membrane
are not rigidly locked in place.
➢ Because the lipid tails are hydrophobic, they
meet in the inner region of the membrane,
excluding watery intracellular and extracellular
fluid from this space.
Two different types of proteins:
Integral and Peripheral proteins.
An integral protein is a protein that is embedded in the
membrane.
Ex : Ion channels and cell recognition proteins such as
receptors (that mark cell’s identity)
Peripheral proteins: typically found on the inner or outer
surface of the lipid bilayer but can also be attached to the
internal or external surface of an integral protein.
Molecular vs. Cellular Membrane

Protein, Lipid, Glycoprotein, ..

Protein: is made from usually fifty-plus basic
building blocks called amino acids.
Peptide: a chain of amino acids < 50.
Protein, Lipid, Glycoprotein, ..
lipid category: classification and nomenclature.
Rules: such as acting as structural components of cell
membranes, serving as energy storage sources and participating
in signalling pathways.

Transport across membranes

Transport across the cell membrane:
1 - diffusion
2 - active-transport
3 - Endocytosis and exocytosis
4 - osmosis

Objectives
✓ Determinants of particle movement.
✓ The cell membrane.
✓ Movement across the cell membrane.
What determines movement of substances across
the cell membrane?
1. A driving force:such concentration gradient, chemical
gradient.
2. The permeability of the membrane:
lipid solubility, size and charge.
So:
Lipids like steroids pass with ease non-polar particles
like O2 pass easily.
➢Small particles like CO2 pass easily.
➢Some water can pass because water is a small
molecule.
Transport Methods:
1- Diffusion:
Particles diffuse because of a concentration gradient or an
electrical gradient.
Diffusion does not use ATP of the cell (passive diffusion).

2. Facilitated diffusion:
is the diffusion process used for those substances that
cannot cross the lipid bilayer due to their size, charge,
and/or polarity.
Example: is the movement of glucose into the cell, where it
is used to make ATP.
➢ it cannot cross the lipid bilayer via simple diffusion
because it is both large and polar.
➢ Glucose transporter
➢ Passive process,it does not require energy expenditure
by the cell.
3. Active transport: active transport, ATP is required to
move a substance across a membrane, often with the help
of protein carriers, and usually against its concentration
gradient.
➢ The sodium-potassium pump, which is also called
Na+/K+ ATPase, transports sodium out of a cell while
moving potassium into the cell.
➢ These pumps are particularly abundant in nerve cells,
to maintain electrical gradient of between the inside
and outside of the cell.
➢ energy from ATP is required for these membrane
proteins to transport substances—i.e., ions.

To be contiued…