Chapter 6 cell membrane, lipids and movement across the membrane

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Key Concepts
Plasma membranes are made up of selectively permeable bilayers of phospholipids. Phospholipids are amphipathic lipid molecules they have hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions. Ions and molecules diffuse spontaneously from regions of higher concentration to regions of lower concentration. Movement of water across a plasma membrane is called osmosis. In cells, membrane proteins are responsible for the passage of insoluble substances that cant cross the membrane on their own.

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The Importance of Membranes

The plasma membrane, or cell membrane, separates life from nonlife.

The plasma membrane separates the cells interior from the external environment. Membranes function to: Keep damaging materials out of the cell Allow entry of materials needed by the cell Facilitate the chemical reactions necessary for life

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Lipids: What Is a Lipid?

Lipids are carbon-containing compounds that are found in organisms and that are largely nonpolar and hydrophobic.

Hydrocarbons are nonpolar molecules that contain only carbon and hydrogen.
Lipids do not dissolve in water because they have a major hydrocarbon component called a fatty acid. A fatty acid is a hydrocarbon chain bonded to a carboxyl (COOH) functional group. Fatty acids and isoprene are the key building blocks of lipids.

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 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Three Types of Lipids Found in Cells

Lipid structure varies widely. The three most important types of lipids found in cells: 1. Fats are composed of three fatty acids linked to glycerol. Also called triacylglycerols or triglycerides 2. Steroids are a family of lipids with a distinctive four-ring structure. Cholesterol is an important steroid in mammals.

3. Phospholipids consist of a glycerol linked to a phosphate group (PO42) and to either two chains of isoprene or two fatty acids.
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 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

The Structure of Membrane Lipids

Membrane-forming lipids contain both a polar, hydrophilic region and a nonpolar, hydrophobic region.

Phospholipids are amphipathic: The head region, consisting of a glycerol, a phosphate, and a charged group, contains highly polar covalent bonds. The tail region is comprised of two nonpolar fatty acid or isoprene chains.
When placed in solution, the phospholipid heads interact with water while the tails do not, allowing these lipids to form membranes.

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 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Phospholipids and Water

Phospholipids do not dissolve when they are placed in water. Water molecules interact with the hydrophilic heads but not with the hydrophobic tails. This drives the hydrophobic tails together. Upon contact with water phospholipids form either: Micelles Heads face the water and tails face each other. Phospholipid bilayers (lipid bilayers)

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Phospholipid Bilayers
Phospholipid bilayers form when two sheets of phospholipid molecules align. The hydrophilic heads in each layer face a surrounding solution, while the hydrophobic tails face one another inside the bilayer. Phospholipid bilayers form spontaneously, with no outside input of energy required.

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 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Selective Permeability of Lipid Bilayers

The permeability of a structure is its tendency to allow a given substance to pass across it.

Phospholipid bilayers have selective permeability.

Small or nonpolar molecules move across phospholipid bilayers quickly. Charged or large polar substances cross slowly, if at all.

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 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Many Factors Affect Membrane Permeability

Many factors influence the behavior of the membrane: Number of double bonds between the carbons in the phospholipids hydrophobic tail Length of the tail Number of cholesterol molecules in the membrane Temperature

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Bond Saturation and Membrane Permeability

Double bonds between carbons in a hydrocarbon chain can cause a kink in the hydrocarbon chain, preventing the close packing of hydrocarbon tails, and reducing hydrophobic interactions. Unsaturated hydrocarbon chains have at least one double bond. Hydrocarbon chains without double bonds are termed saturated. Saturated fats have more chemical energy than unsaturated fats. Membranes with unsaturated phospholipid tails are much more permeable than those formed by phospholipids with saturated tails.

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 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Other Factors That Affect Permeability

Hydrophobic interactions become stronger as saturated hydrocarbon tails increase in length. Membranes containing phospholipids with longer tails have reduced permeability. Adding cholesterol to membranes increases the density of the hydrophobic section. Cholesterol decreases membrane permeability. Membrane fluidity decreases with temperature because molecules in the bilayer move more slowly. Decreased membrane fluidity causes decreased permeability.

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Fluidity of the Membrane

Individual phospholipids can move laterally throughout the lipid bilayer. They rarely flip between layers.

How quickly molecules move within and across membranes is a function of temperature and the structure of the hydrocarbon tails in the bilayer.

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 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Solute Movement across Lipid Bilayers

Materials can move across the cell membrane in different ways. Passive transport does not require an input of energy. Active transport requires energy to move substances across the membrane. Small molecules and ions in solution are called solutes, have thermal energy, and are in constant, random motion. This random movement is called diffusion. Diffusion is a form of passive transport.

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Diffusion along a Concentration Gradient

A difference in solute concentrations creates a concentration gradient.

Molecules and ions move randomly when a concentration gradient exists, but there is a net movement from high- concentration regions to low-concentration regions. Diffusion along a concentration gradient increases entropy and is thus spontaneous.
Equilibrium is established once the molecules or ions are randomly distributed throughout a solution. Molecules are still moving randomly but there is no more net movement.

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 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Osmosis
Water moves quickly across lipid bilayers. The movement of water is a special case of diffusion called osmosis. Water moves from regions of low solute concentration to regions of high solute concentration. This movement dilutes the higher concentration, thus equalizing the concentration on both sides of the bilayer. Osmosis only occurs across a selectively permeable membrane.

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 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Osmosis and Relative Solute Concentration

The concentration of a solution outside a cell may differ from the concentration inside the cell.

An outside solution with a higher concentration is said to be hypertonic to the inside of a cell.
A solution with a lower concentration is hypotonic to the cell. If solute concentrations are equal on the outside and inside of a cell, solutions are isotonic to each other.

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Osmosis in Hypertonic, Hypotonic, and Isotonic Solutions

In a hypertonic solution, water will move out of the cell by osmosis and the cell will shrink.

In a hypotonic solution, water will move into the cell by osmosis and the cell will swell.
In an isotonic solution, there will be no net water movement and the cell size will remain the same.

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 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

The Fluid-Mosaic Model of Membrane Structure

Although phospholipids provide the basic membrane structure, plasma membranes contain as much protein as phospholipids.

The fluid-mosaic model of membrane structure suggests that some proteins are inserted into the lipid bilayer, making the membrane a fluid, dynamic mosaic of phospholipids and proteins.

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 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Membrane Proteins
Integral proteins are amphipathic and so can span a membrane, with segments facing both its interior and exterior surfaces.

Integral proteins that span the membrane are called transmembrane proteins. These proteins are involved in the transport of selected ions and molecules across the plasma membrane. Transmembrane proteins can therefore affect membrane permeability.
Peripheral proteins are found only on one side of the membrane. Often attached to integral proteins

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 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Membrane Proteins Affect Ions and Molecules

The transmembrane proteins that transport molecules are called transport proteins. There are three broad classes of transport proteins, each of which affects membrane permeability: 1. Channels 2. Carrier proteins or transporters 3. Pumps

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Ion Channels and the Electrochemical Gradient

Ion channels are specialized membrane proteins. Ion channels circumvent the plasma membranes impermeability to small, charged compounds. When ions build up on one side of a plasma membrane, they establish both a concentration gradient and a charge gradient, collectively called the electrochemical gradient. Ions diffuse through channels down their electrochemical gradients. This passive transport decreases the charge and concentration differences between the cells exterior and interior.

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 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Facilitated Diffusion via Channel Proteins

Cells have many different types of channel proteins in their membranes, each featuring a structure that allows it to admit a particular type of ion or small molecule. These channels are responsible for facilitated diffusion: the passive transport of substances that would not otherwise cross the membrane.

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 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Facilitated Diffusion via Carrier Proteins

Facilitated diffusion can occur through channels or through carrier proteins, or transporters, which change shape during the transport process. Facilitated diffusion by transporters occurs only down a concentration gradient, reducing differences between solutions.

Glucose is a building block for important macromolecules and a major energy source, but lipid bilayers are only moderately permeable to glucose. A glucose transporter named GLUT-1 increases membrane permeability to glucose.

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 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Active Transport by Pumps

Cells can transport molecules or ions against an electrochemical gradient. This process requires energy in the form of ATP and is called active transport. Pumps are membrane proteins that provide active transport of molecules across the membrane. For example, the sodium-potassium pump, Na+/K+-ATPase, uses ATP to transport Na+ and K+ against their concentration gradients.

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 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Secondary Active Transport

In addition to moving materials against their concentration gradients, pumps set up electrochemical gradients.

These gradients make it possible for cells to engage in secondary active transport, or cotransport. The gradient provides the potential energy required to power the movement of a different molecule against its particular gradient.

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Summary of Membrane Transport

There are three mechanisms of membrane transport: 1. Diffusion 2. Facilitated diffusion 3. Active transport Diffusion and facilitated diffusion are forms of passive transport and thus move materials down their concentration gradient and do not require an input of energy. Active transport moves materials against their concentration gradient and requires energy provided by ATP or an electrochemical gradient.

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 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Plasma Membrane and the Intracellular Environment

The selective permeability of the lipid bilayer and the specificity of the proteins involved in passive transport and active transport enable cells to create an internal environment that is much different from the external one.

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