CELL TRANSPORT

JGCM
Plasma Membrane: definition
• The boundary that separates the living cell from
its surroundings
• Controls traffic into and out of the cell
• Structure – proteins
lipids
carbohydrates
EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX (ECM) – water medium

INTRACELLULAR MATRIX / CYTOPLASM

PM structure: selective permeability

―Selective Permeability‖ – allows some materials to move

freely but restrict other materials based on:
a) Size
b) Electrical charge
c) Molecular shape
d) Lipid solubility –
 Nonpolar molecules can dissolve in the lipid bilayer of the
membrane and cross it easily (hydrocarbons, CO2, and O2)
 Polar molecules pass only slowly through a lipid bilayer, and
even water, a very small does not cross rapidly (glucose and
other sugars)
Membrane Transport
Two modes of membrane traffic:
(1) passive transport – no energy required
(2)active transport - requiring energy and ATP

Membrane Transport can be:

DIFFUSION (passive)
CARRIER MEDIATED (passive or active)
VESICULAR (active)
I. DIFFUSION
• Molecules in constant motion – results to diffusion – the
movement of particles of any substance so that they spread out into
the available space.
I. DIFFUSION
• Molecules in constant motion – results to diffusion – the
movement of particles of any substance so that they spread out into
the available space.
I. DIFFUSION

SIMPLE RULE: In the absence of other forces, a substance will diffuse

from where it is more concentrated to where it is less concentrated.

In other words – diffuse down its concentration gradient

each substance diffuses down its own concentration
gradient, unaffected by the concentration gradients of
other substances
I. Osmosis: A special case of Diffusion
The movement of water across cell membranes
and the balance of water between the cell and its
environment are crucial to organisms.

• The diffusion of free water across a selectively

permeable membrane, whether artificial or
cellular, is called osmosis.
I. Osmosis: A special case of Diffusion
I. Osmosis: A special case of Diffusion

Water diffuses across the membrane from the region of higher

free water concentration (lower solute concentration) to
that of lower free water concentration (higher solute
concentration) until the solute concentrations on both sides of the
membrane are more nearly equal.
I. Osmosis: Tonicity
Tonicity – the ability of a surrounding solution
to cause a cell to gain or lose water.

The tonicity of a solution depends in part on its

concentration of solutes that cannot cross the
membrane (nonpenetrating solutes) relative to
that inside the cell.
▫ If there is a higher concentration of
nonpenetrating solutes in the surrounding
solution, water will tend to leave the cell, and vice
versa.
Water Balance of Cells Without Cell Walls

If we place the cell in a solution that is hypotonic to the cell

(hypo means ―less‖), water will enter the cell faster than it leaves,
and the cell will swell and lyse (burst) like an overfilled water
balloon.
Water Balance of Cells Without Cell Walls

If a cell is immersed in an environment that is isotonic to the cell

(iso means ―same‖), there will be no net movement of water across
the plasma membrane. Water diffuses across the membrane, but at
the same rate in both directions. In an isotonic environment, the
volume of an animal cell is stable.
Water Balance of Cells Without Cell Walls

If we place the cell in a solution that is hypertonic to the cell

(hyper means ―more‖), cell will lose water, shrivel, and probably die.

A cell without rigid cell walls can tolerate neither

excessive uptake nor excessive loss of water.
Water Balance of Cells Without Cell Walls

Osmoregulation – the control of solute

concentrations and water balance
• The cells of most terrestrial (land-dwelling)
animals are bathed in an extracellular fluid that
is isotonic to the cells.
• In hypertonic or hypotonic environments,
however, organisms that lack rigid cell walls
must have other adaptations for.
Water Balance of Cells with Cell Walls

When such a cell is immersed in a hypotonic solution — bathed in

rainwater, for example—the cell wall helps maintain the cell’s water
balance.

The plant cell swells as water enters by osmosis, however, the relatively
inelastic cell wall will expand only so much before it exerts a back pressure
on the cell, called turgor pressure, that opposes further water uptake.
Water Balance of Cells with Cell Walls

If a plant’s cells and their surroundings are isotonic, there is no net

tendency for water to enter, and the cells become flaccid
(limp).
 Water Balance of Cells with Cell Walls

If a plant’s cells and their surroundings are hypertonic, the cell will
lose water to its surroundings and shrink. As the plant cell shrivels, its
plasma membrane pull away from the cell wall at multiple places. This
phenomenon, called plasmolysis, causes the plant to wilt and can lead to
plant death.
II. CARRIER-MEDIATED
A. Facilitated Diffusion (passive)
As mentioned earlier, many polar molecules and
ions impeded by the lipid bilayer of the membrane
diffuse passively with the help of transport proteins
that span the membrane.

• Passive Transport Aided by Proteins

▫ Most transport proteins are very specific: They
transport some substances but not others.
II. CARRIER-MEDIATED
Two Transport Proteins:
• channel proteins – function by having a
hydrophilic channel that certain molecules or
atomic ions use as a tunnel through the
membrane
• carrier proteins – hold onto their passengers
and change shape in a way that shuttles them
across the membrane
II. CARRIER-MEDIATED
Channel proteins that
transport ions are called
ion channels. Many
ion channels function as
gated channels,
which open or close in
response to a stimulus.

For some gated channels, the stimulus is electrical. Other

gated channels open or close when a specific substance
other than the one to be transported binds to the channel.
II. CARRIER-MEDIATED
Carrier proteins seem
to undergo a subtle
change in shape that
somehow translocates
the solute-binding site
across the membrane

Carrier proteins transport

molecules too large to fit
through channel proteins
(glucose, amino acids)
II. CARRIER-MEDIATED
TWO FACTORS that affect flow of ions through an
open ion channels –
1. Membrane potential – electrical force
voltage across a membrane
2. Concentration gradient – chemical force
the ions’ concentration gradient

This combination of forces acting on an ion is

called the electrochemical gradient.
II. CARRIER-MEDIATED
B. Active Transport (active)
To pump a solute across a membrane against its
gradient requires work; the cell must expend energy

2 types:
Sodium-potassium pumps
Cotransport
II. CARRIER-MEDIATED
B. Active Transport (active)

WHY do we need energy in ACTIVE TRANSPORT?

ANS: in order to move solutes against their

concentration gradient

LESS MORE
CONCENTRATED CONCENTRATED
II. CARRIER-MEDIATED
B. Active Transport – enables a cell to
maintain internal concentrations of small
solutes that differ from concentrations in its
environment.

For Example: an animal cell has a much

higher concentration of potassium ions (K+)
and a much lower concentration of sodium
ions (Na+).
II. CARRIER-MEDIATED
B. Active Transport (active)
1. Sodium-potassium pumps – uses ATP
to induce carrier protein to change its
shape in a manner that translocates Na+
for K+ across the plasma membrane of
animal cells
II. CARRIER-MEDIATED
B. Active Transport (active)
2. Cotransport – a transport protein (a
cotransporter) can couple the ―downhill‖
diffusion of the solute to the ―uphill‖
transport of a second substance against its
own concentration gradient
III. VESICULAR (BULK TRANSPORT)

BULK TRASPORT - large molecules—such as

proteins and polysaccharides, as well as larger
particles—generally cross the membrane in bulk,
packaged in vesicles

2 types:
ENDOCYTOSIS
EXOCYTOSIS
III. VESICULAR (BULK TRANSPORT)

EXOCYTOSIS
• transport vesicle that has budded from the Golgi
apparatus moves along microtubules of the
cytoskeleton to the plasma membrane.
III. VESICULAR (BULK TRANSPORT)

ENDOCYTOSIS
• the cell takes in molecules and particulate
matter by forming new vesicles from the plasma
membrane
▫ Phagocytosis - ―cellular eating‖
▫ pinocytosis - ―cellular drinking‖
▫ receptor-mediated endocytosis- form of
pinocytosis
Phagocytosis Pinocytosis
Receptor-
Mediated
Endocytosis