Physiology - Cellular Flashcards
What lipids does the plasma membrane consist mostly of?
Phospholipids and cholesterol
What is the plasma membrane?
A fluid lipid bilayer embedded with proteins
What appearance does the plasma membrane have on an electron microscope?
Trilaminar
Describe the head of a phospholipid
Negatively charged, polar, hydrophilic
Describe the tail of a phospholipid
Uncharged, non-polar, hydrophobic
What contributes to the fluidity and stability of the membrane?
Cholesterol
Name the 3 types of membrane porteins that are insterted within or attached to the lipid bilayer
Integral proteins - embedded in the lipid bilayer (receptors)
Transmembrane proteins - extend through the membrane (e.g. transporters, channels)
Peripheral proteins - do not penetrate the membrane (more common intracellularly) (e.g. receptor-associated enzymes)
What is there a small amount of located on the outer surface of cells?
membrane carbohydrate
What layer do glycoproteins and glycolipids together form?
The glycocalyx
What do some transmembrane proteins form?
Water-filled highly-selective ion channels
What are calcium channel blockers used to manage?
Hypertension and abnormal heart rhythms
What disease is directly linked to genetic mutations in channels?
Cystic Fibrosis
What do carrier or transport proteins exhibit?
Substrate specificity - accept only a particular molecule (or ion) or group of closely related molecules.
Where are docking-marker acceptors located and what do they do?
Located on the inner membrane surface
Interact with secretory vesicles leading to exocytosis of the vesicle contents
Name a membrane bound enzyme?
Protein kinase C
Rececptors are commonly found on the outer surface and bind specific molecules such as?
Hormones
Name two types of cell adhesion molecules (CAMs)
- Cadherins
2. Integrins
What do cadherins do?
Help hold cells within tissues together
What do integrins do?
Span the plasma membrane acting as a link between extra and intracellular environments
What serve as self-identify markers?
Membrane carbohydrates
Name the three types of cell junctions
- Desmosomes
- Tight junctions
- Gap junctions
What are desmosomes?
Adhering junctions that anchor cells together, especially in tissues subject to stretching.
What are tight junctions?
They join the lateral edges of epithelial cells near their lumenal (apical) membranes. They can be tight or leaky.
What are gap junctions?
Gap junctions are communicating junctions that allow the movement of charge carrying ions and small molecules between two adjacent cells.
What are the two properties that influence whether a particle can permeate the plasma membrane without assistance?
Solubility of the particle in lipid
Size of the particle
Molcules and ions that can penetrate the membrane are passively driven across the membrane by two forces - what are they?
- Diffusion down a concentration gradient
2. Movement along an electrical gradient
Give the 5 factors in Fick’s law of diffusion
- The magnitude of the concentration gradient
- The surface area of the membrane across which diffusion is taking place
- The lipid solubility of the substance
- The molecular weight of the substance
- The distance through which diffusion must take place
What type of charged area do cations tend to move towards?
More negatively charged areas
How is an electrical gradient formed?
When there is a difference in charge between two adjacent areas
What are aquaporins?
Water channels
What is osmolarity?
The concentration of osmotically active particles present in a solution
What is tonicity?
The effect a solution has on cell volume - tonicity has no units
Describe carrier mediated transport
Substance binds onto a specific carrier which undergoes a conformational change which transports the substance.
What three characteristics determine the kind and amount of material transferred across the membrane?
- Specificity - each carrier is specialised to transport a specific substance or a few closely related chemical compounds (cysteinuria)
- Saturation - transport maximum (Tm) (renal glucose re-absorption)
- Competition - e.g. an amino acid carrier can transport both Gly and Ala. The presence of both diminishes the rate of transfer for either.
What is another term form carrier mediated transport?
Facilitated diffusion or active transport
Does facilitated diffusion need energy?
Noi
Does active transport need energy?
Yes
What kind of concentration gradient does facilitated diffusion occur along?
From high to low
What two forms does active transport come in?
- Primary active transport
2. Secondary active transport
What is primary active transport?
Energy is directly required to move a substance against its concentration gradient
What is secondary active transport?
Energy is required but is not used directly to produce “uphill” movement. The carrier does not split ATP instead it moves a molecule “uphill” by using secondhand energy stored in the form of an ion concentration gradient (usually Na+ gradieny)
What does the sodium-potassium pump transport in and out of the cell?
Transports 3 sodium out and 2 potassium in
What are the 3 important roles for the sodim-potassium pump?
- Helps establish sodium and potassium concentration gradients across the plasma mebrane of all cells
- Helps regulate cell volume by controlling concentration of solutes inside the cell
- The energy used to drive the pump indirectly serves as the energy source for secondary active transport
What is the definition of secondary active transport?
The transfer of a solute across the membrane is always coupled with the transfer of the ion that supplies the driving force (typically sodium)
What are the two mechanisms by which secondary active transport can occur?
- Symport (co-transport) - the solute and sodium move in the same direction (e.g. glucose absorption at the apical membrane of enterocytes)
- Antiport (exchange or countertransport) - the solute and sodium move in opposite directions (sodium into, solute out of the cell). E.G. cells exchange sodium and protons by means of antiport, important in regulation of intracellular pH.
What are the two methods of vesicular transport?
Endocytosis and exocytosis