Week 1 (membrane transport) physiology Flashcards
Cell membranes and transport
cholesterol significance in cell membrane
Can stabilise lipid fluidity.
ATP-dependence of flip-flop motion
- Revealed to be active process
- Active in signalling events.
Lipid asymmetry across membrane (example)
Phosphatidyl-choline (PC) tends to stay on the cell surface, phosphatidyl-serine (PS) and PI is the opposite.
what facilitates lipid asymmetry
An enzyme, PLEP, (phospholipid exchange proteins) facilitates this non-random motion.
Flippase in cancer (multidrug resistance MDR)
- Flippases could also be a multidrug-transporter (like P-glycoprotein) that translocates drugs out
- They can also act as ATP-dependent efflux pumps (pump out non-polar drugs)
PS activity
It has -ve charge. Protein kinase C will bind to -ve charged proteins for activity.
It will also promote apoptosis when it is on the extracellular monolayer. (Due to possible inhibition of flippases)
how do drugs overcome the issue of MDR
- finding inhibitors of the efflux pumps
- evade pump detection
hydropathy of amino acids
- Determined by their polarity, what portion of the amino acids are in the aqueous phase, and how many in the oily phase.
- This is used to determine which amino acids are likely to be with the phospholipids, or extra/intracellular spaces.
Singer-Nicholson Model
Fluid Mosaic Model, proposes that biological membranes are composed of a fluid phospholipid bilayer interspersed with various proteins.
Why so many intracellular K+?
Cells that need protein synthesis need this.
Because there are cavities in enzymes that are negatively charged that need a cation to stabilise it. But Ca2+, H+, Mg2+ will disturb the conformation of the protein, but K+ won’t.
So high intracellular K+ is essential for protein synthesis(ribosomal subunit).
carnivore red blood cells (an exception?)
RBCs have high sodium intracellularly.
- high turnover rate (quick cell death)
- and don’t concern protein synthesis.
glycophorin A
The first integral membrane protein to be sequenced.
Hydropathy plot can localise potential alpha helical membrane spanning segments in glycophorin A.
Modelling a cell membrane?
- pure phospholipids
- mixed phospholipids
- add in non-transporter integral proteins
- add in non-functional transporter proteins
- biological membrane.
examples of (models) studying the cell membrane
- forming a single bilayer (allow the study of ion channels)
- using RBC, easy to burst, to study the cytoplasmic side of cells.
RBC can be turned inside out after burst (hypotonic lysis).
membrane permeability and oil solubility
This should be a linear relationship.
Diffusion coefficient vs oil solubility.
But water is an exception
Water (exception) - membrane permeability and oil solubility
Even though water is polar, its small size and shape is optimal to diffuse across the membrane.
water/cell swelling significance…
necrotic cell death
cell growth
water/cell shrinkage significance…
apoptosis - cell death
animal cell complication with inherent hypotonicity (protein intracellularly)
Have cytoskeletons to prevent cell swelling, actively pump out osmolytes.
is water permeation through cell membranes controlled?
Yes! This is shown by Mercury (Hg2+) blocking water permeation through the membrane.
- The more mercury, the less water diffusion.
Aquaporin and mercury
Aquaporins are water channels abundant in RBC, kidney tubules and other tissues.
There is a mercury binding site that inhibits aquaporin’s water permeability.
water movement across animal cell membranes
- Main regulated (ADH) way is aquaporin channels.
- There are no ATP-driven water pumps
- How is water actively controlled - via osmolytes.