Assignment: Cell Biology

Submitted to: Dr. Nadia

Fatima
Submitted by: HAJRA Bi Bi
Roll no:
23112041069
Semester: 3rdB
 Cellular Transport
Definition
Cellular transport refers to the movement of molecules and ions across cell membranes.

Types of Cellular Transport

1. Passive Transport
2. Active Transport

Passive Transport Mechanisms

1. Diffusion
2. Osmosis
3. Facilitated Diffusion

Active Transport Mechanisms

1. Endocytosis
2. Exocytosis

Importance of Cellular Transport

1. Nutrient Uptake
2. Waste Removal
3. Ion Balance Regulation
4. Cell Signaling
5. Immune Response

Diffusion
Diffusion is defined as the net movement of molecules from an area of greater concentration to
an area of lesser concentration.

Types of Diffusion:
1. Simple Diffusion: Particles move directly through a cell membrane.
2. Facilitated Diffusion: Particles move through a cell membrane with the help of transport
proteins.

Factors Affecting Diffusion:

1. Concentration Gradient: Particles move from high to low concentration.
2. Temperature: Increased temperature increases diffusion rate.
3. Surface Area: Increased surface area increases diffusion rate.
4. Membrane Permeability: Some membranes allow certain particles to pass through.

Examples of Diffusion:
1. Oxygen diffusing into cells from the bloodstream.
2. Carbon dioxide diffusing out of cells into the bloodstream.
3. Nutrient molecules diffusing into cells.
 Importance of Diffusion:
1. Essential for cellular respiration.
2. Maintains cellular homeostasis.
3. Facilitates waste removal.
Molecules are in constant movement and collide with each other. This unequal distribution of
molecules is called a concentration gradient. Once the molecules become uniformly distributed,
dynamic equilibrium exists. The equilibrium is said to be dynamic because molecules continue
to move, but despite this change, there is no net change in concentration over time. Both living
and nonliving systems experience the process of diffusion. In living systems, diffusion is
responsible for the movement of a large number of substances, such as gases and small
uncharged molecules, into and out of cells.

Osmosis
Osmosis is the movement of water molecules from a region of high concentration to a region of low
concentration through a selectively permeable membrane.

Characteristics:
1. Movement of water molecules
2. Through a selectively permeable membrane
3. From high concentration to low concentration
4. No energy required (passive transport)
Types of Osmosis
1. Isotonic Osmosis
The concentration of solute in the solution can be equal to the concentration of solutes in cells. In
this situation the cell is an isotonic solution.

Characteristics:
 No net movement of water
 No change in cell shape or size
 Equilibrium maintained

Examples:
1. Red blood cells in isotonic solution (0.9% saline)
2. Cells in normal body fluids

2. Hypotonic Osmosis
The concentration of solute in the solution can be less than the concentration of solute in the cells.
This cell is in a hypotonic solution.

Characteristics:
 Water moves into the cell
 Cell swells and may burst (lyse)
 Increased turgor pressure

Examples:
1. Red blood cells in distilled water
2. Plant cells in rainwater

3. Hypertonic Osmosis
The concentration of solute in the solution can be greater than the concentration of solute in the
cells. This cell is described as being in a hypertonic solution.

Characteristics:
 Water moves out of the cell
 Cell shrinks and loses turgor pressure
 Dehydration occurs

Examples:
1. Red blood cells in saltwater
2. Plant cells in saltwater
 Facilitated Diffusion
Facilitated diffusion is a type of passive transport where molecules move across the cell
membrane with assistance from transport proteins.

Characteristics:
1. Downhill transport (from high to low concentration)
2. No energy required (ATP-independent)
3. Specific transport proteins (carrier proteins or channel proteins)
4. Faster than simple diffusion

Types of Facilitated Diffusion:

1. Carrier-mediated transport (e.g., glucose transport)
2. Channel-mediated transport (e.g., ion channels)

Channel proteins in facilitated transport:

Channel proteins are either open at all times or they are “gated,” which controls the opening of the
channel. The attachment of a particular ion to the channel protein may control the opening or other
mechanisms or substances may be involved. In some tissues, sodium and chloride ions pass freely through
open channels, whereas in other tissues, a gate must be opened to allow passage. Opening and closing of
these channels changes the relative concentrations on opposing sides of the membrane of these ions,
resulting in the facilitation of electrical transmission along membranes (in the case of nerve cells) or in
muscle contraction (in the case of muscle cells).
Carrier Proteins
Another type of protein embedded in the plasma membrane is a carrier protein. This protein binds
a substance and, in doing so, triggers a change of its own shape, moving the bound molecule from
the outside of the cell to its interior; depending on the gradient, the material may move in the
opposite direction. Carrier proteins are typically specific for a single substance. This adds to the
overall selectivity of the plasma membrane . An example of this process occurs in the kidney.
Glucose, water, salts, ions, and amino acids needed by the body are filtered in one part of the
kidney. This filtrate, which includes glucose, is then reabsorbed in another part of the kidney.

Active Transport
Active Transport is defined as a process that involves the movement of molecules from a region of
lower concentration to a region of higher concentration against a gradient or an obstacle with the
use of external energy. The below diagram shows the process of active transport, which uses
external energy ATP for the movement of the molecules.

Types of Active transport

There are two types of active transport namely – Primary active transport and secondary active
transport.
Primary active transport
In this process of transportation, the energy is utilized by the breakdown of the ATP – Adenosine
triphosphate to transport molecules across the membrane against a concentration gradient.
Sodium-potassium pump, the most important pump in the animal cell is considered as an
example of primary active transport.

Secondary active transport

Secondary active transport is a kind of active transport that uses electrochemical energy. It takes
place across a biological membrane where a transporter protein couples the movement of an
electrochemical ion (typically Na+ or H+) down its electrochemical gradient to the upward
movement of another molecule or an ion against a concentration or electrochemical gradient.

Electrochemical Gradient
Electrochemical gradient exists whenever there is a net difference in charges. The positive and
negative charges of a cell are separated by a membrane, where the inside of the cell has extra
negative charges than outside. The membrane potential of a cell is -40 to -80 millivolts. The cell
has higher potassium concentration inside the cell but lower sodium concentration than the
extracellular fluid. The sodium ions will move inside the cell based on the concentration gradient
and voltage across the membrane. The voltage across the membrane facilitates the movement of
potassium into the cell, but its concentration gradient drives it out of the cell. The combination of
voltage across the membrane and the concentration gradient that facilitates the movement of ions
is called the electrochemical gradient.

Active transport in plants

Active transport is a mode of transportation in plants, which uses stored energy to move the
particles against the concentration gradient. In a plant cell, it takes place in the root cells by
absorbing water and minerals. Active transport always leads to accumulation of molecules are ions
towards one side of the membrane. This mode of transportation in plants is carried out by
membrane proteins and transports the substance from the lower concentration to higher
concentration.

Endocytosis
Endocytosis is the process by which cells internalize molecules, particles, and fluids from outside
the cell by engulfing them with a portion of the cell membrane.

Steps of Endocytosis:
1. Invagination: Cell membrane folds inward.
2. Vesicle formation: Membrane encloses the target
3. Scission: Vesicle breaks off from the cell membrane.
4. Fusion: Endosome fuses with lysosomes for degradation or recycling.

Functions of Endocytosis:
1. Nutrient uptake
2. Immune response (phagocytosis)
 3. Hormone regulation
4. Cell signaling
5. Waste removal

Types of Endocytosis:
1. Phagocytosis (cellular eating)
Phagocytosis (above left): phagocytes extend pseudopodia by membrane evagination. The
pseudopodia of amoeba (and amoeboid cells generally) engulf particles of food that end up in
digestive vesicles (phagosomes) inside the cytosol. Phagocytes are a class of white blood cells that
are part of our immune system. They engulf foreign particles that must be eliminated from the
body. A lysosome fuses with the phagosome, after which stored hydrolytic enzyme are activated.
The result is the digestion of the engulfed particles.

2. Pinocytosis (cellular drinking)

Pinocytosis (above center): pinocytosis is a non-specific, more or less constant pinching off of
small vesicles that engulf extracellular fluid containing solutes; they are too small to include
significant particulates.

3. Receptor-mediated endocytosis
Receptor-mediated endocytosis (above right): this kind of endocytosis relies on the affinity of
receptors for specific extracellular substances. Upon binding their ligands, the receptors
aggregate in differentiated regions of cell membrane called coated pits. The coated pits then
invaginate and pinch off, forming a coated vesicle, thereby bringing their extracellular contents
into the cell. After the coated vesicles deliver their contents to their cellular destinations, the
vesicle membranes are recycled to the plasma membrane. Receptor-mediated endocytosis is
perhaps the best understood mechanism for bringing larger substances into cells. The drawings
below are taken from a series of electron micrographs that illustrates the invagination of coated
pits to form clathrin-coated vesicles.
Watch fluorescently labeled proteins enter cells by receptor-mediated endocytosis live by following
the bright spots in the video loop at Receptor-mediated endocytosis. Clathrin, a large protein, is the
principal protein on the surface of the invaginated coated pit. Clathrin is linked to specific integral
membrane proteins via adaptor protein 1 (AP1). AP1 recruits specific cargo proteins to bring into the
cell when the coated pits invaginate. Some details of receptor-mediated endocytosis are illustrated
below.

A well-known example of receptor-mediated endocytosis is the uptake of cholesterol bound to

low density lipoprotein (LDL), a complex of phospholipid, protein and cholesterol illustrated below.
Exocytosis
Exocytosis is the process by which cells release molecules, vesicles, or waste products to the
outside environment by fusing vesicles with the cell membrane. The formation of both lysosomes
and secretion vesicles begins in the rough endoplasmic reticulum, followed by passage and
maturation through Golgi vesicles. While endocytotic vesicles and secretion vesicles form in
‘opposite directions’, they both share common structural features with the plasma membrane,
from which they are derived and with which they fuse.

Types of Exocytosis:
1. Constitutive exocytosis: Continuous release of proteins and vesicles.
2. Regulated exocytosis: Stimulus-dependent release (e.g., neurotransmitters).
3. Lysosomal exocytosis: Waste removal.

Steps of Exocytosis:
1. Vesicle formation: Packaging of molecules or waste.
2. Transport: Vesicles move to the cell membrane.
3. Docking: Vesicle binds to the cell membrane.
4. Fusion: Vesicle contents released outside.
Functions of Exocytosis:
1. Hormone secretion
2. Neurotransmitter release
3. Waste removal
4. Cell signaling
5. Tissue repair