2.

MEMBRANE PHYSIOLOGY
HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY
BY- LIUL M.
FOR –
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OUTLINE
• Membrane transport
• Excitable cell
• Membrane Potentials
• Resting membrane potential
• Action Potentials
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TRANSPORT ACROSS THE PLASMA

MEMBRANE
• Transport of materials across the plasma
membrane is essential to the life of a cell.
Certain substances must move into the cell to
support metabolic reactions. Other substances
that have been produced by the cell for export or
as cellular waste products must move out of the
cell.
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Movement across-cell membrane

• Movements a cross membrane takes place in two
ways.
• These are passive and active movements. Passive
movement uses energy whereas active
movement consumes energy in the form of ATP.
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Cont…
1. Passive transport
▫ involves physiochemical forces that do not
require metabolic energy.
▫ includes: Simple & facilitated diffusion.
2. Active transport:
▫ Biochemical and biological processes using
metabolic energy.
▫ May be primary or secondary A.T.
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Cont…
• The transport of molecules & ions through the
plasma membrane based on requirement of
membrane protein carriers.
1. Carrier-mediated transport
▫ a. Facilitated diffusion
▫ b. Active transport
2. Non-carrier-mediated transport
a. Simple diffusion (it is not carrier-mediated) of
lipid-soluble molecules through the phospholipid
layers of the plasma membrane.
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Transport across the membrane

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Passive movement: includes

a. Simple diffusion, the random movements of
molecules from area of high concentration to the
area of low concentration. Example air in alveoli
of lung
b. Facilitated diffusion, larger molecules, which
are not soluble in lipid need protein channel to
pass through the plasma membrane. No direct
energy needed. Example: - Amino acid passes
through the cell membrane.
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Cont…
c. Osmosis, a special type of diffusion referring to
the passage of water through a selectively
permeable membrane from an area of high water
concentration to lower water concentration.
d. Filtration, small molecules pass through
selectively permeable membrane in response to
force of pressure. Example: - filtration in the
kidney in the process of urine formation.
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Factors affecting rate of diffusion

• Viscosity of solution
• Molecular weight: - light molecules diffuse
faster
• Lipid solubility: - lipid soluble molecules cross
cell membranes more easily
• Electrical charge and electrical gradient:-
charged molecules move faster in the direction
of the opposite charge and slower or not at all in
the direction of the same charge.
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Active movements across membranes

• Substances move through a selectively
permeable membrane from areas of low
concentration on side of a membrane to an area
of higher concentration on the other side. This is
against concentration gradient. Therefore, it
requires energy.
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Active (Pump) Transport

1. Na+/ K+-ATP-ase ( Na+-K+ pump):
• Transports Na+ from intracellular to extra-cellular fluid
and K+ from extra-cellular to intracellular fluid in the
CM;
• maintains low intracellular [Na+] and high intracellular
[K+].
• Both Na+ and K+ are transported against their
electrochemical gradients.
• Energy is provided from the terminal phosphate bond of
ATP.
• Usually 3Na+/2 K+
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Cont…
2. Ca2+-ATPase ( Ca2+pump) in the sarcoplasmic
reticulum (SR) or cell membranes transports
Ca2+ against an electrochemical gradient.
3. H+/K+ - ATPase ( proton pump) in gastric
parietal cells transports H+ into the lumen of the
stomach against its electrochemical gradient.
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Transport in Vesicles
• Active process in which substances move into or
out of cells in vesicles that bud from plasma
membrane; requires energy supplied by ATP.
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Endocytosis
• Engulfing of materials by invagination of the
outer part of a cell membrane until it buds off
within the cytoplasm.
• Requires energy
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Cont…
1. Phagocytosis: large molecules such as bacteria,
dead RBC, etc surrounded by cell membrane
and taken up –“cell eating ”
2. Pinocytosis – cell drinking: invagination occurs
into cell and pinches off to form boundary of an
intracellular vesicle, vacuole or tubule. e.g.
absorption of undigested protein in the gut of
newborns.
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Exocytosis
Exocytosis - is “Cell vomiting”
e.g. Releases of neurotransmitters, digestive
enzymes and some hormones.
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Excitable cell
• Excitable cell: a cell which has a potential of
producing an electrical signal in response to the
stimulus.
• The cells of excitable tissues— nerve cells and
muscle cells
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Membrane Potential
• electrical energy difference between the inside
and outside of the cell.
• All cells have membrane potentials.
• Membrane potential  charge separation across
the membrane.
• The Range of Em: -20 mV to -90mV
• Any change of a membrane’s permeability of
ions causes a change in Em.
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Resting Membrane Potential (RMP)

• Steady transmembrane potential of a cell that is
not producing an electrical signal.
• No net flow of ions across the plasma membrane.
(No net inward current),RMP
• Always negative in nerve and muscle cells.
• Magnitude is κ for individual cell types.
o Nerve, cardiac & skeletal muscle: -55 to -
90mV
o Smooth muscle: -55 to-30mV
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Cont…
• Inexcitable cells have RMP.
• RMP is necessary for the cell to fire an action
potential, AP.
• RMP is nearly equals to that of EK.
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Cont…
• Membrane potential is determined by two major
factors:
▫ Passive
▫ Active
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Cont…
1. Passive determinants
A. Biochemical architecture of the plasma
membrane
B. Uneven distribution of ions
C. Diffusion Force: till Em = Eion
(Nernst/equilibrium potential
D. Leaky channels (non-gated K+, Na+ and Cl-
channels)
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Cont…
2. Active determinant (Na+-K+-ATPase)
a. Maintaining the gradients of Na + and K+
 Cell volume
 Em (excitability)
b. Electrogenic effect = 3Na+: 2K+
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Action Potentials
• Action potential is rapid, transient, self-
propagating electrical excitation in the plasma
membrane of excitable cells.
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Phases and Ionic Basis of Action Potential

1. Threshold Potential
• Minimum value of Em at which an action
potential will occur 50% of the time.
• Em is reduced to a critical level  excitable cells
undergo rapid depolarization.
• Initiated by rapid opening of slow Na+ channels.
• AP occurs only when the NET movement of
positive charge is inward.
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Cont…
2. Depolarization Phase/ upstroke
• ↑gNa+  flow of Na+ into the cell
3. Overshoot / peak of the action potential
• Portion of the AP during which the membrane
potential is positive.
• Approaching ENa+ (m gates close )
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Cont…
4. Repolarization / Downstroke
• Rapid return of the membrane towards its
RMP.
5. Afterpotentials/undershoot
• Membrane potential becomes more negative
than its RMP at the end of the action potential.
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Refractory period
• an interval during which it is more difficult to
elicit an AP.
• voltage and time-dependent nature of gating
particles.
• Types:
▫ Absolute refractory period
▫ Relative refractory period
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THANK YOU!!!