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BIOL101 Ch5
BIOL101 Ch5
BIOL101 Ch5
Function
Lecture Outcomes
● Understand the concept of “selective permeability”
● Brief description of “membrane fluidity” and why it’s important
● List the functions of membrane proteins
● Detailed understanding of movement across the membrane:
permeability, channels, carriers, diffusion, osmosis, active
transport, cotransport, bulk transport
● Describe the contents of the extracellular matrix
Cell Membrane
● Cell membrane is also called plasma membrane
● Plasma membrane controls traffic (=movement) of molecules into and
out of the cell it surrounds
● Plasma membrane has selective permeability = allows some
substances to cross more easily than others
● Selective permeability is important for keeping the cell alive
● This is because the cell needs to keep its pH and concentration of
molecules the same even if the environment changes
Selective Permeability
https://www.biologyonline.com/dictiona
protein
Movement Into and Out of the Cell
● Movement of molecules into the cell or out of it can happen in two
ways:
1. Passive transport: relies on diffusion, does not require energy
2. Active transport: needs energy to force molecules inside or
outside the cell
Diffusion
● When molecules are placed into a container, they spread out until
they occupy the whole place, and become evenly distributed (=equal
space between each molecule)
● This means that molecules move from a concentrated area to a less
concentrated area, until they become evenly distributed
● This happens naturally, and does not require adding energy
● This means that if the molecule has a higher concentration outside
the cell than inside the cell, then the molecule will move into the cell
● If the molecule has a higher concentration inside the cell than outside
the cell, then the molecule will move outside the cell
● We say that the molecule is moving down its concentration gradient
(=from where it has high concentration to where it has low
concentration)
Osmosis
● Osmosis is a special type of diffusion involving water
● Water molecules move from less concentrated solution to a more
concentrated solution
https://www.cleanroomtechnology.co
news/article_page/
Reverse_osmosis_in_cleanrooms/2031
Osmosis in Cells
● Since cells are mostly made from water, the cell can grow bigger if
water enters, or shrink (=become smaller) if water leaves it
● If a cell is placed in a more concentrated solution (=hypertonic), then
it will lose water and shrink
● If a cell is placed in a solution of same concentration (=isotonic), then
it will not lose or gain water. It will stay the same shape and size
● If a cell is placed in a solution of lower concentration (=hypotonic)
then it will gain water
https://blog.nursing.com
hypertonic-hypotonic-
isotonic-what-the-tonic
● Plant cells are protected from the effects of osmosis by their cell wall
● Cell wall stops the cell from bursting if too much water enters it
● As the cell swells (=becomes bigger from taking water) it pushes
against the cell wall
● Cell wall pushes back
● The pressure from cell wall pushing back stops the cell from
expanding any more
● The cell becomes turgid. Plant cells are in their healthiest state when
they are turgid
Why is Turgid Cell the Healthiest State?
● The pressure from turgid cells (=turgor pressure) keeps small plants
standing upright
● Other living beings, like some protists, use vacuoles to pump the
extra water out of the cell.
https://www.quora.com/W
contractile-vacuoles-impo
● Passive transport can happen across the membrane or through
transport proteins
Active Transport
● Active transport uses energy to force molecules to enter the cell or
force them out of the cell
● This movement happens against the concentration gradient = the
molecules are moving from less concentrated solution to more
concentrated solution
● This is not the natural way for the molecules to move, so energy is
needed to force molecules to move in the opposite direction
● Active transport only happens using transport proteins
Ion Pumps
● Ion pumps are transport proteins that use energy to pump ions into
the cell or out of the cell
● The inside of the cell has more K+ than outside the cell
● The inside of the cell has less Na+ than outside the cell
● The cell uses ion pumps to force more K+ into the cell and remove
more Na+ out of the cell
● Na+ is more positive than K+
● So when the cell removes Na+ it becomes less positive
● Less positive also means more negative
https://www.researchgate.net/
publication/
273751706_Malignant_hyperth
naway_thermogenic_futile_cycl
Why?
● Why would a cell try to force a molecule against its concentration
gradient?
● As mentioned in the previous slide, pumping out Na+ keeps the cell
more negative
● Another reason is cotransport
Cotransport
● The cell can transport two things
together
● E.g. since Na+ is more
concentrated outside the cell, it will
diffuse back into the cell if it is
allowed
● The cell can allow Na+ to enter, but
it will have to bring a second
molecule with it
https://ib.bioninja.com.au/
standard-level/topic-1-cell-bio
14-membrane-transport/
Bulk Transport
● If the cell wants to take large quantities of macromolecules
● If the cell wants to release large quantities of macromolecules
● Then it can do that using bulk transport
● Bulk transport involves using vesicles instead of transport proteins
● There are many types of bulk transport. We will look at:
○ Endocytosis
○ Exocytosis
Endocytosis
● The cell wraps plasma membrane around the molecules, and they
enter the cell as a vesicle
https://flexbooks.ck12.org/cbook
biology-flexbook-2.0/section/2.16
lesson/exocytosis-and-endocytos
Exocytosis
● A vesicle (e.g. coming from the Golgi apparatus) can combine with
the plasma membrane, and open up to release the molecules outside
the cell
Extracellular Matrix
https://quizlet.com/570322464/
components-of-the-extracellular
ecm-diagram/
Extracellular Matrix
● The space outside the cell is filled with
extracellular matrix
● The extracellular matrix contains many
proteins and other molecules
● Most importantly:
○ Collagen fibres
○ Proteoglycans
○ Fibronectin
● Integrin proteins on the cell membrane act Fibronectin