Membrane Transport Flashcards
What are the two general ways to pass the cell membrane?
- dissolve (not many do this)
- cross with the aid of a transmembrane protein
Which molecules can easily pass the cell membrane without help?
- gases (O2, N2, CO2)
- small polar molecules (ethanol)
- small nonpolar molecules (diethylurea)
Which molecules need help getting through the cell membrane?
- too polar (ions, ATP, amino acids)
- too large (glucose)
What gets through tight junctions?
Nothing
What intercellular junctions link cells into a wall?
Tight junctions
How are tight junctions formed?
Made from proteins. Fusion of parallel layers of proteins residing in the outer leaflets of membranes. `
What do tight junctions do?
- barriers
- selective gates (some are leaky, some are tight, protein type dictates permeability(
- fences (apical/basolateral polarisation of cells)
What process facilitates the transport of substances between membranes of two cells?
facilitated by gap junctions, hollow tubes made up of proteins called connexins (holes between cells)
What limits transport through gap junctions?
Limited by size of molecule, less than 1 kD (ions, amino acids, sugars, nucleotides). probably not proteins
What does it mean for diffusion to be thermally-driven?
It means that there is no energy input required.
What does the rate of diffusion depend on?
It depends on the frequency of collisions with the membrane, which is proportional to concentration.
What is diffusion measured as?
FLUX
What does it mean that the flux of diffusion is unidirectional?
It means that thing diffuse in both directions, but eventually even out if let to.
What is Fick’s law?
The net diffusion of uncharged solutes through a membrane. This is the measurement of flux
What is a partition coefficient?
It relates membrane concentration to known aqueous concentration (e.g. dissolving something in lipid vs water will have different parition coefficient, K)
Describe the partition coefficient equation.
K=C(oil)/C(water). So, when K > 1, C of membrane is more than C of aqueous environment and the molecule must be hydrophobic to get through.
What does Overton’s law tell us?
The higher the lipid solubility, the higher the permeability.
What does Overton’s law predict?
- predicts hydrophobic molecules will cross membrane better
- crossing is dependent on linear concentration
- “interesting” molecules have low flux without help from carriers or transporters
What are the five types of membrane transport?
- simple diffusion
- simple: ion channels
- facilitated diffusion: insulin regulated glucose transport
- primary active: Na pump
- secondary active: Na/Ca exchange
What do secondary active pumps reqauire for energy?
The energy made by primary active pumps in the form of concentration gradients
Describe transporters.
- it is a slow mechanism becasue there are rate limiting steps
- uniports (facilitated diffusion)
- symports/cotransporters (active transport)
- antiports/exchangers (active transport)
Describe channels
Simple diffusion
- much faster
- based on fick’s law
- concentration-dependent
Describe ATP-driven pumps
-not as fast as simple diffusion, but not as slow as facilitated diffusion
what type of protein is a permease?
It is a carrier protein. It catches a molecule (rate limiting), and then moves it, though it is concentration-dependent. It is a type of uniporter.