Cell Membranes and Transport Flashcards
What is the cell membrane selectively permeable to?
-water and some liquids
how do liquid soluble substances and water soluble substances move through the cell membrane?
lipid soluble substances move more easily through the cell membrane
What are lipid soluble substances?
-small uncharged molecules
-non-polar substances
How do small uncharged molecules move through the cell membrane?
-small uncharged molecules, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, dissolve in the hydrophobic tails of the phospholipids and diffuse across the cell membrane
how do non-polar substances move through the cell membrane?
-non-polar substances, such as vitamin A, can also dissolve in phospholipids and diffuse through cell membranes
What are water soluble substances?
polar molecules, such as glucose and amino acids
how do polar molecules move through the cell membrane?
-polar molecules such as glucose and amino acids as well as charged ions, e.g. Na+ cannot easily diffuse through the phospholipids
-they pass through intrinsic protein molecules (channels or carrier proteins)
What is the permeability of the membrane affected by?
-Temperature
-Organic Solvent
-Type of diffusing molecule
how does temperature affect membrane permeability?
-increased temperature increases membrane permeability as the molecules moving through the membrane will have more kinetic energy and will diffuse more quickly
How do organic solvents (e.g. ethanol) affect the permeability of the membrane?
-ethanol dissolves/emulsifies the phospholipids and may denture other proteins resulting in gaps or holes within the membrane/the membrane becomes more porous
-Acetone has a similar effect to ethanol
what are the methods of transport across the membrane?
Passive:
-Diffusion
-Facilitated Diffusion
-Co-transport
-Osmosis
Active:
-Active Transport
-Bulk transport (endo/exocytosis)
what is diffusion?
The passive movement of a molecule or ion down a concentration gradient, from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration
what does passive mean?
Not requiring ATP provided by the cell
Why must there be a difference in concentration for diffusion?
If there is an equilibrium, there will be no net movement
What are factors affecting the rate of diffusion?
-The concentration gradient
-The thickness of the surface
-The surface area of the membrane
-The size of the diffusing molecule
-The nature of the diffusing molecule
-Temperature
how does the concentration gradient affect the rate of diffusion?
-The greater the difference in concentration of molecules in 2 areas, the molecules will diffuse in the given time
How does the thickness of the surface affect the rate of diffusion?
-The shorter the distance over which diffusion takes place, the more will diffuse in the given time
How does the surface area of the membrane affect the rate of diffusion?
The larger the area the higher the number of molecules that will diffuse in the given time
How does the size of the diffusing molecule affect the rate of diffusion?
-smaller molecules diffuse faster than large molecules (more kinetic energy)
how does the nature of the diffusing molecule affect the rate of diffusion?
-molecules that are soluble in phospholipid (non-polar) diffuse faster than water molecules (polar) because they can diffuse anywhere through the membrane
How does temperature affect the rate of diffusion?
-Increased temperature increases the rate of diffusion as the molecules or ions (or phospholipid bilayer) have more kinetic energy
What is facilitated diffusion?
-The passive transfer of polar molecules or charged ions down a concentration gradient, across a membrane, by channel or carrier proteins in the membrane
What is facilitated diffusion used to do?
-used to transport ions in large, polar molecules, such as Na+, glucose and amino acids that are relatively insoluble in phospholipids
Why is facilitated diffusion passive?
Does not require ATP
why is facilitated diffusion more rapid than simple diffusion for polar molecules/charged ions?
Going through a protein as easier than going directly through the bilayer
What affects the rate of facilitated diffusion through the membrane?
-Number of channel/carrier proteins present in the membrane; once they are filled, the rate will plateau
-steepness of the conc grad
-temperature
What are two types of transport proteins?
-Channel Proteins
-Carrier Proteins
What are channel proteins?
-protein molecules with water filled hydrophilic pores
-Ions being water soluble can pass through because the pores are hydrophilic
-each channel is specific for one type of ion
-channels open and close depending on the needs of the cell
What are carrier proteins?
-allow diffusion of large polar molecules, such as glucose and amino acids
-A polar molecule attaches to a binding site on the carrier protein
-This causes the protein to change shape releasing the molecule through to the other side of the membrane
What are specific types of facilitated diffusion?
-gated protein channels
-co transport
what do gated protein channels do?
-can be opened or closed to allow ions through, for example, sodium ion gated channels that open during initiation of the nerve impulse
What is co transport?
-A type of facilitated diffusion that brings molecules and ions into cells together on the same protein transport molecule.