MEMBRANE

PHYSIOLOGY:
Dr. Maria Naeem
DPT(STMU). MS-CPPT(RIU)*
BASIC CONCEPT:
• the extracellular fluid contains a large amount of sodium but only a
small amount of potassium. Exactly the opposite is true of the
intracellular fluid.
• Also, the extracellular fluid contains a large amount of chloride ions,
whereas the intracellular fluid contains very little. But the
concentrations of phosphates and proteins in the intracellular fluid
are considerably greater than those in the extracellular fluid. These
differences are extremely important to the life of the cell.
TRANSPORT PROTEINS:
• Different proteins function differently. Some have watery spaces all
the way through the molecule and allow free movement of water, as
well as selected ions or molecules; these are called channel proteins.
• carrier proteins, bind with molecules or ions that are to be
transported.
• Both the channel proteins and the carrier proteins are usually highly
selective for the types of molecules or ions that are allowed to cross
the membrane.
MEANS OF TRANSPORT:
• Transport through the cell membrane, either directly through the lipid bilayer or
through the proteins, occurs by one of two basic processes: diffusion or active
transport.
• diffusion means random molecular movement of substances molecule by
molecule, either through intermolecular spaces in the membrane or in
combination with a carrier protein. The energy that causes diffusion is the
energy of the normal kinetic motion of matter.
• active transport means movement of ions or other substances across the
membrane in combination with a carrier protein in such a way that the carrier
protein causes the substance to move against an energy gradient, such as from a
low-concentration state to a high-concentration state. This movement requires
an additional source of energy besides kinetic energy.
Diffusion of Lipid-Soluble Substances
Through the Lipid Bilayer:
• One of the most important factors that determines how rapidly a
substance diffuses through the lipid bilayer is the lipid solubility of
the substance.
• lipid solubility of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and alcohols is
high.
Diffusion of Water and Other Lipid-Insoluble
Molecules Through Protein Channels:
• Even though water is highly insoluble in the membrane lipids, it
readily passes through channels in protein molecules that penetrate
all the way through the membrane.
SELECTIVE PERMEABILITY:
• Pores and channels
• protein pores, called aquaporins or water channels, permit rapid
passage of water through cell membranes but exclude other molecules.
• The protein channels are distinguished by two important
characteristics:
(1) They are often selectively permeable to certain substances
(2) many of the channels can be opened or closed by gates that are
regulated by electrical signals (voltage-gated channels) or chemicals
that bind to the channel proteins (ligand-gated channels)
Selective Permeability of Protein Channels:
• Potassium channels permit passage of potassium ions across the cell
membrane about 1000 times more readily than they permit passage
of sodium ions.
• the sodium channel: The inner surfaces of this channel are lined with
amino acids that are strongly negatively charged. These strong
negative charges can pull small dehydrated sodium ions into these
channels, actually pulling the sodium ions away from their hydrating
water molecules.
Gating of Protein Channels:
• Voltage gating: In this instance, the molecular conformation of the
gate or of its chemical bonds responds to the electrical potential
across the cell membrane.
• Chemical (ligand) gating: Some protein channel gates are opened by
the binding of a chemical substance (a ligand) with the protein; this
causes a conformational or chemical bonding change in the protein
molecule that opens or closes the gate.
ACTIVE TRANSPORT:
• At times, a large concentration of a substance is required in the
intracellular fluid even though the extracellular fluid contains only a
small concentration. This is true, for instance, for potassium ions.
Conversely, it is important to keep the concentrations of other ions
very low inside the cell even though their concentrations in the
extracellular fluid are great. This is especially true for sodium ions.
TYPES OF ACTIVE TRANSPORT:
• In primary active transport, the energy is derived directly from
breakdown of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) or of some other high-
energy phosphate compound.
• In secondary active transport, the energy is derived secondarily from
energy that has been stored in the form of ionic concentration
differences of secondary molecular or ionic substances between the
two sides of a cell membrane, created originally by primary active
transport.
PRIMARY ACTIVE TRANSPORT:
• Sodium potassium pump: a transport process that pumps sodium
ions outward through the cell membrane of all cells and at the same
time pumps potassium ions from the outside to the inside. This pump
is responsible for maintaining the sodium and potassium
concentration differences across the cell membrane, as well as for
establishing a negative electrical voltage inside the cells.
• One of the most important functions of the Na+ -K+ pump is to
control the volume of each cell. Without function of this pump, most
cells of the body would swell until they burst.
• Primary Active Transport of Calcium Ions
• Primary Active Transport of Hydrogen Ions
MEMBRANE POTENTIAL:
• Sodium potassium pump: is an electrogenic pump because more
positive charges are pumped to the outside than to the inside (three
Na+ ions to the outside for each two K+ ions to the inside), leaving a
net deficit of positive ions on the inside; this causes a negative
potential inside the cell membrane.
• Resting membrane potential: the diffusion potentials alone caused by
potassium and sodium diffusion would give a membrane potential of
about −86 millivolts, almost all of this being determined by potassium
diffusion. Then, an additional −4 millivolts is contributed to the
membrane potential by the continuously acting electrogenic Na+-K+
pump, giving a net membrane potential of −90 millivolts.
NERVE ACTION POTENTIAL:
• Nerve signals are transmitted by action potentials, which are rapid
changes in the membrane potential that spread rapidly along the
nerve fiber membrane. Each action potential begins with a sudden
change from the normal resting negative membrane potential to a
positive potential and then ends with an almost equally rapid change
back to the negative potential.
• The successive stages of the action potential are as follows
1. The resting stage
2. Depolarization stage
3. Repolarization stage
Role of calcium Ions During the Action
Potential:
• Like the sodium pump, the calcium pump transports calcium ions
from the interior to the exterior of the cell membrane (or into the
endoplasmic reticulum of the cell), creating a calcium ion gradient of
about 10,000-fold.
• voltage-gated calcium channels:When they open in response to a
stimulus that depolarizes the cell membrane, calcium ions flow to the
interior of the cell.
Initiation of the Action Potential:
• A Positive-Feedback Cycle Opens the Sodium Channels.
• Threshold for Initiation of the Action Potential. An action potential
will not occur until the initial rise in membrane potential is great
enough to create the positive feedback.
PLATEAU IN ACTION POTENTIAL:
• In some instances, the excited membrane does not repolarize
immediately after depolarization; instead, the potential remains on a
plateau near the peak of the spike potential for many milliseconds,
and only then does repolarization begin.
• This type of action potential occurs in heart muscle fibers, where the
plateau lasts for as long as 0.2 to 0.3 second and causes contraction of
heart muscle to last for this same long period.
• in heart muscle, two types of channels enter into the depolarization
process:
(1) fast channels
(2) slow channels.
Opening of fast channels causes the spike portion of the action
potential, whereas the prolonged opening of the slow calcium-sodium
channels mainly allows calcium ions to enter the fiber, which is largely
responsible for the plateau portion of the action potential as well.
STRUCTURE OF A NEURON:
• Myelinated and Unmyelinated Nerve Fibers.
• The central core of the fiber is the axon, and the membrane of the axon is the
membrane that actually conducts the action potential. The axon is filled in its
center with axoplasm, which is a viscid intracellular fluid.
• Surrounding the axon is a myelin sheath that is often much thicker than the axon
itself.
• At the juncture between each two successive Schwann cells along the axon, a
small uninsulated area only 2 to 3 micrometers in length remains where ions still
can flow with ease through the axon membrane between the extracellular fluid
and the intracellular fluid inside the axon. This area is called the node of Ranvier.
About once every 1 to 3 millimeters along the length of the myelin sheath is a
node of Ranvier.
SALTATORY CONDUCTION:
• Even though almost no ions can flow through the thick myelin sheaths
of myelinated nerves, they can flow with ease through the nodes of
Ranvier. Therefore, action potentials occur only at the nodes. Yet the
action potentials are conducted from node to node, this is called
saltatory conduction.
• increases the velocity of nerve transmission.
• serves energy for the axon.
Velocity of Conduction in Nerve Fibers:
• The velocity of action potential conduction in nerve fibers varies from
as little as 0.25 m/sec in small unmyelinated fibers to as great as 100
m/sec (the length of a football field in 1 second) in large myelinated
fibers.
THANKYOU