Hey Guys
Hey Guys
Hey Guys
So, let us take now at the structure of cell membrane. It is made up of phospholipid bilayer that is
semipermeable. Phospholipid in the plasma membrane is arranged in two layers called a phospholipid
bilayer. Each phospholipid molecule has a head and two tails. The head loves water or what we called
hydrophilic, while the tails hate water or hydrophobic.
Have you ever wondered how molecules enter and leave the cell membrane? Well, that is what I am
going to discuss with. The process of molecules entering and leaving cell membrane is called cellular
transport.
There are two basic ways of Cellular Transport: The Passive and the Active Transport.
Passive transport occurs when substances cross the plasma membrane without any input of energy from
the cell. No energy is needed because the substances are moving through the concentration gradient,
from a high concentration to low concentration. It is a little like a ball rolling down a hill. It goes by itself
without any input of extra energy.
There are two types of Passive transport, including simple diffusion and facilitated diffusion.
Some molecules have no problem going through the cell membrane and directly go through the
phospholipid bilayer, a very small nonpolar molecule such as oxygen and carbon dioxide fit in this
category. One of the specific types of simple diffusion is the osmosis. It is the passage of water from a
region of high-water concentration through a semipermeable membrane to a region of low water
concentration.
The other type of Passive transport is the Facilitated Diffusion. One of the plasma membrane structure is
the protein, some of them are transport protein that act as channel or what we called channel protein.
Some change their shape to get things across that are open and close based on the stimulus, it is called
carrier protein. Channel protein and Carrier protein help the molecules that are too big to cross the
membrane on their own. This process is called Facilitated Diffusion. It is just the proteins are facilitating
or helping things pass through the cell membrane.
So now, I already discussed the types of passive transport which are the simple and facilitated diffusion
that goes from high to low concentration. But what if you go the other way?
The second way of Cellular transport is the Active transport. The substances require energy to cross a
plasma membrane to an area of lower concentration to an area of higher concentration. It is going to
have to be forced against the regular gradient flow movement of molecules. Good news! There is an ATP
that can power transport protein to force molecules to go against their concentration gradient. One of
its examples is the sodium potassium pump. Active transport also requires carrier protein that bind with
specific ions or molecules across the membrane.
But what if cell needs a very large molecule? Very large molecules cross the plasma membrane with a
different sort of help, called vesicle transport.
There are two types of vesicle transport: the endocytosis and exocytosis.
Endocytosis is a type of vesicle transport that moves a substance into the cell. There are three types of
endocytosis: the phagocytosis, pinocytosis, and receptor-mediated endocytosis. When a solid particle is
engulfed, the process is called phagocytosis. When fluid is engulfed, the process is called pinocytosis.
And when the content is taken in specifically with the help of receptors on the plasma membrane, it is
called receptor-mediated endocytosis.
The Exocytosis is much like endocytosis in reverse. Exocytosis is a type of vesicle transport that moves a
substance out of the cell. A vesicle containing the substance moves through the cytoplasm to the cell
membrane. Then, the vesicle membrane fuses with the cell membrane, and the substance is released
outside the cell.