NORTH EASTERN MINDANAO STATE UNIVERSITY

Lianga Campus
College of Teacher Education

Anatomy & Physiology

Lesson 2
Kris Angeli S. Sanchez
Instructor
Lesson 2. Molecules, Cells and Membranes in Physiology

A.) Cell membranes and intracellular membranes

B.) Elements of metabolism

C.) Regulation of Cell Function by Enzyme

D.) Types of human tissues in the human body

Video
The actions of toxins remind us that all the higher functions of animals depend on
molecules and on the organization of molecules into cellular structure and cells.
A.) Cell Membranes and Intracellular Membranes
Review of the parts of the cell
➢ Eukaryotic cell have complex interior

Animal cell
Plant cell
Cell membrane (plasma membrane) –
encloses each animal cell
Intracellular membranes – includes
endoplasmic reticulum, inner and outer
membranes of each mitochondrion, nuclear
envelope

✓ They physically compartmentalize

systems in functionally essential ways;
the cell membrane, for instance,
separates the inside of a cell from the
cell’s surroundings, permitting the inside
to have different properties from the
outside.
Membrane Structure
✓ Composed of phospholipids, other lipids,
and diverse proteins = fluid mosaic
model
✓ Each of 2 layers is a sheet of lipid
molecules arranged side by side.
✓ Surfaces of lipid bilayer are composed of:
Hydrophilic (“water-loving”)
– surface of lipid bilayer

Hydrophobic (“water-hating”)
– internal core of fatty acids
The lipid of membranes are structured,
diverse, fluid, and responsive to some
environmental factors.
Phospholipids – lipids that contain
phosphate groups (fig.)
They are principal constituents of the
matrix in which proteins are embedded
in cell membranes and intracellular
membranes.
Amphipathic – each molecule is consist
of polar part and nonpolar part.
➢ The two layers of phospholipid molecules in any particular membrane, known as
the two leaflets of the membrane, typically are composed of different mixes of
phospholipid molecules.

➢ The phospholipids in a cell membrane or intracellular membrane are fluid.

Individual phospholipid molecules are not covalently bound to one another.
Therefore, they move relative to each other.

➢ The ease of motion of the phospholipid molecules in a membrane leaflet is termed

their fluidity = depends in part on the degree of chemical saturation of the
hydrocarbons that make up the phospholipid tails.
Proteins endow membranes with numerous functional capacities
✓ Membrane proteins are structurally of two principal kinds:

1) Integral membrane proteins – part of the

membrane and cannot be removed without taking
the membrane apart. Most span the membrane
and thus are called transmembrane proteins.
2) Peripheral membrane proteins – associated with
the membrane but can be removed without
destroying the membrane. They are bonded
noncovalently (i.e., by weak bonds) to membrane
components (e.g., integral proteins) and are
positioned on one side of the membrane or the
other. Their positioning means that the two leaflets
of a membrane differ in protein composition, as
well as phospholipid composition.
*The categories are not mutually exclusive: A membrane protein can be both a receptor and
a channel, or a transporter and an enzyme, for example.
Transport across cellular membranes
❑ Passive diffusion
- Some molecules are able to freely cross
a biological membrane. E.g., steroid
hormones
- When these molecules encounter a cell
membrane, they dissolve into the lipid
bilayer and escape to the other side.
- The net movement of molecules is from
high concentration to low
concentration = the steeper the
concentration gradient, the greater the
rate of movement across the
membrane
❑ Facilitated diffusion
- Hydrophilic molecules cross
membranes by other pathways that
involve specific transport proteins
- A protein is required to carry the
molecule across the membrane
- Three main types of proteins carry out
facilitated diffusion:

1) Ion channels – membrane proteins

that form pores through which only
specific ions may pass, and only
when the channel is open. E.g., Ca2+
channels
➢ Ligand-gated channels – opened when
specific regulatory molecules are
present E.g., One important ligand-
gated channel is the Ca2+ channel
sensitive to inositol triphosphate (IP3);
this channel induces the release of
Ca2+ stores when its ligand, IP3 is
present.

➢ Voltage-gated channels – opened or

closed in response to membrane
potential. For example, K + channels in
muscle and neurons open when the
membrane depolarizes.
➢ Mechanogated channels – regulated
through interactions with the
subcellular proteins that make up the
cytoskeleton. Changes in cell shape,
such as cell swelling, alter the
arrangement of the cytoskeleton.
Upon sensing the changes in the
cytoskeleton, mechanogated channels
may open or close.
2) Porins are large channels that function in similar ways to
ion channels but permit the passage of much larger
molecules.
Aquaporins are water channels in the plasma
membranes; each aquaporin molecule can transport 3
billion water molecules per second.

3) Permease – rather than creating a pore for a molecule, it

functions more like an enzyme. It binds the substrate and then
undergoes a conformation change that causes the carrier to
release the substrate to the other side
B.) Elements of Metabolism

Metabolism – set of processes by which cells and organisms acquire, rearrange, and void
commodities in ways that sustain life. It involves myriad chemical and physical processes.

➢ Nitrogen metabolism – set of processes by

which nitrogen is acquired, employed in
synthetic reactions to create proteins and other
functional nitrogenous compounds, and
ultimately transferred to elimination compounds
such as urea or ammonia.
➢ Energy metabolism – consists of processes by
which energy is acquired, transformed,
channeled into useful functions, and dissipated.
Metabolism may be subdivided according to the type of transformation that occurs:

Catabolism “Destructive”
– set of processes by which complex chemical compounds are broken down to
release energy, create smaller chemical building blocks, or prepare chemical
constituents for elimination.

Anabolism “Constructive”
– by contrast, consists of the processes that synthesize larger or more complex
chemical compounds from smaller chemical building blocks, using energy.
Enzyme Fundamentals

Two amphibians with different jumping capabilities based in part on different levels of a
key enzyme, lactate dehydrogenase

“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” – story by Mark Twain which appealed
to the imagination of his readers by extolling the awesome jumping abilities of a frog.
Muscles can work only as fast as they are supplied
with adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
Amphibians, however, have only modest abilities to
make ATP using oxygen (O2), because they have
relatively simple lungs and can supply their cells
with O2 only relatively slowly.
For leopard frogs to hop along as fast as they do
when fleeing danger, they need to make ATP faster
than the O2 supply to their muscles permits.
That is, they must make ATP by anaerobic
mechanisms not requiring O2. A crucial reason they
can do this is that their leg muscles are well
endowed with the enzyme lactate dehydrogenase.
Compared with leopard frogs, toads such
as the common western toad of North
America (Anaxyrus boreas, formerly Bufo
boreas) are not nearly as well endowed
with lactate dehydrogenase.
Thus, they cannot make ATP to a great
extent without O2, and the slow rate of O2
delivery to their muscle cells means a slow
rate of ATP production, explaining why
they cannot hop along as fast as frogs.
Enzymes – protein catalysts that play two principal
roles: they speed chemical reactions and often
regulate reaction.

To appreciate the extreme importance of enzymes,

it is crucial to recognize that the vast majority of the
biochemical reactions that occur in animals do not
take place on their own at significant rates under
physiological conditions.

Catalyst – a molecule that accelerates a reaction

without, in the end, being altered itself.
➢ Enzymes are described as having substrates
and products, and often there are two or
more of each.

Substrates – initial reactants of the reaction

that the enzyme catalyzes
Products – the compounds produced by the
reaction

Major steps in enzyme catalysis:

➢ Enzyme-catalyzed reactions exhibit hyperbolic
or sigmoid kinetics
➢ Enzyme-catalyzed reactions are one of the types of
reactions that exhibit saturation kinetics
➢ Kinetics – refers to the velocity properties of
reactions
➢ Saturation kinetics – exhibited by reactions if its
limited to a maximum velocity because there is
limited supply of a molecule with which other
molecules must reversibly combine for the reaction
to take place.
Two types of saturation kinetics:

➢ Hyperbolic Kinetics – occur when each enzyme

molecule has just one substrate-binding site for the
particular substrate of interest, or alternatively,
such kinetics can occur when there multiple sites
but the sites behave independently
➢ Sigmoid kinetics – occur when each enzyme
molecule has multiple-binding sites and the
multiple sites influence each other by way of ripple
effects within enzyme molecule so that catalytic
activity at any one site depends on whether binding
has occurred at other sites.
➢ Maximum reaction velocity is determined by the amount and
catalytic effectiveness of an enzyme
C.) Regulation of Cell Function by Enzyme
➢ The types and amounts of enzymes present depend on gene expression
and enzyme degradation
A gene that codes for an enzyme is said to be expressed in a cell if the cell actually
synthesizes the enzyme.
The reason that cells of various tissues differ
in their enzymes—and that one cell can differ
from time to time—is that only some genes
are expressed in each cell at any given time.
Gene expression is not all-or-none. Thus, for
enzymes that are being synthesized by a cell,
the rate of synthesis can be varied by
modulation of the degree of gene expression.
C.) Types of Human Tissues in the Body
➢ An animal has four main categories of tissues: epithelial, connective,
muscle, and nervous tissue.

❑ Epithelial Tissue
is a tissue that covers the surface of the
body and lines organs (Figure 21.3). The
architecture of an epithelium illustrates how
structure fits function at the tissue level.

The body continuously renews the cells of

many epithelial tissues. For example, cells
of the digestive tract and skin are renewed
every few days or weeks, depending on
the specific cell type. Such turnover
requires cells to divide rapidly, which
increases the risk of an error in cell
division, a mistake that can lead to cancer.
❑ Connective Tissue
contains cells scattered throughout
a material called the extracellular
matrix. The structure of extracellular
matrix varies, depending on the
function of the type of connective
tissue to which it belongs.

Loose connective tissue – it binds

epithelia to underlying tissues

Fibrous connective tissue – dense

matrix of collagen. E.g., tendons,
cartilage, bone

Adipose tissue – CT that stores fat in

closely packed cells of a sparse matrix

Blood – CT consisting of cells

suspended in a liquid matrix called
plasma
❑ Muscle Tissue

consists of bundles of long, thin,

cylindrical cells known as muscle
fibers. Each muscle fiber has
specialized proteins arranged into a
structure that contracts (pulls inward)
when stimulated by a signal from a
nerve.
Humans and other vertebrates have
three types of muscle tissue, each with
unique contractile proteins: skeletal
muscle, cardiac (heart) muscle, and
smooth muscle
❑ Nervous Tissue
Nervous tissue is found in your brain and spinal cord,
as well as in the nerves that connect these organs to
all other parts of your body.
The basic unit of nervous tissue is the neuron, or
nerve cell (Figure 21.6). With their long extensions,
neurons convey information in the form of electrical
transmissions over long distances.
For example, neurons in your leg may be as long as
1 m (3.3 feet), running all the way from the base of
your spinal cord to the tips of your toes. It is this
transmission of information that allows neurons to
coordinate functions within the body.
Additionally, neurons connected to each other form
networks in the brain. These complex
interconnections are responsible for what we
broadly call "thinking."