Plasma Membrane

Structure and
Function
Photograph of a Cell
Membrane

2
 Plasma Membrane
• Boundary that separates the living cell from
it’s non-living surroundings.
• Phospholipid bilayer
• Amphipathic - having both:
hydrophilic heads
hydrophobic tails
Phospholipid
• ~8 nm thick
• Mostly composed of
• lipids and proteins
• Is a dynamic structure
 Plasma Membrane
Membrane Lipids: The
Fluid Part

There are three major

classes of lipids:

• Phospholipids
- Phosphoglycerides
and Sphyngolipids
• Glycolipids
• Sterols
 Membrane Functions
• Protection
• Communication
• Selectively allow substances to enter the
cell
• Respond to environment
• Allow cell recognition
• Provide anchoring sites for filaments of
cytoskeleton
 HISTORY OF PLASMA
MEMBRANE
Langmuir (1917)
- Develop an apparatus in which molecular
layers of lipids were spread at the air-
water interface
- proposed that in the molecular film the
polar head groups were directed toward
the water whereas the hydrophobic
hydrocarbons are pointed toward the air
phase
Gorter and Grendel (1925)
• experimentally investigated the surface area of
lipids
• They concluded that cell membranes are:
- made of two opposing thin molecular layers,
- two lipid layers form a bilayer with the polar
head groups pointing toward the aqueous
environment
 Danielli and Davson (1935)
• Earliest biomembrane model including proteins
• proposed a model of the cell membrane consisting of a
lipid bilayer, with which a protein layer is tightly associated
• concluded that the permeabilities of membranes for
solutes are explainable within the concepts of the physical
chemistry of the hydrophilic and lipophilic regions of the
cell membranes and that no particular chemical reactions
including the solutes are needed to explain the transport
properties.
Robertson (1958)
• Wrote a review in which he collected his
evidence for a unique membrane structure
obtained from the then advanced electron
microscopy
The Fluid Mosaic Model of
Singer and Nicolson (1972)
• concluded that proteins may also span through
membranes
• proposed that the proteins are surrounded by a layer of
strongly interacting lipids while most of the remaining
lipids are hardly influenced by the presence of proteins
• Lipid membranes of biological cells are fluid lipid state in
which proteins can easily fuse
Fluid-Mosaic Model
 FLUID MOSAIC MODEL
Fluid mosaic model

FLUID- because individual phospholipids and

proteins can move around freely within the layer,
like it’s a liquid.
MOSAIC- because of the pattern produced by the
scattered protein molecules when the membrane
is viewed from above. 12
 Membrane Components

Phospholipids Proteins
13
The Mattress Model by
Mouritsen and Bloom (1984)
• suggests that proteins and lipids display
interactions with a positive free energy
content due to variations in the
hydrophobic length of the molecules
 Proteins—For Function
• Transport
• Receptors
• Enzymes
• Signal Transducers
• Support
Plasma Membrane Proteins

PROTEINS CAN
MOVE IN THE
MEMBRANE,
TOO!
Channel protein
Carrier protein
Cell recognition protein
Receptor protein
Enzymatic protein

Example of
Enzymatic
G-protein
activity
G-PROTEIN
animation 3
associated
ANIMATION 2
with a
membrane:
G-protein
cascade
Permeability of the Cell Membrane-
Differentially Permeable
 Solubility
• Materials that
are soluble in
lipids can pass
through the
cell membrane
easily

23
Semipermeable Membrane

Small non-charged molecules move through

easily.
Examples: O2, and CO2
24
Semipermeable Membrane

Ions, and large molecules such as glucose and

amino acids do not move through the
membrane on their own. They must use
transport proteins 25
Permeability of the Cell Membrane
 MOVEMENTS OF
SUBSTANCES ACROSS THE
CELL MEMBRANE
 DIFFUSION
• Diffusion
– the passive movement of molecules from
a higher to a lower concentration until
equilibrium is reached.
– Gases move through plasma membranes
by diffusion.
• Osmosis– A special case of diffusion
Process of diffusion
Gas exchange in lungs by diffusion
 Osmosis
The diffusion of water across a
differentially permeable
membrane due to
concentration differences of
solutions
 Question:
What’s in a Solution?
Answer:

• solute + solvent  solution

• NaCl + H 20  saltwater
 TONICITY
• Refers to the concentration of
SOLUTES
• Is a RELATIVE term, comparing two
different solutions
• Hypertonic
• Hypotonic
• Isotonic
 Hypertonic
• A solution with a greater solute
concentration compared to another solution.

Which
way
will 3% NaCl solution
the 97% H2O 5% NaCl
water 95% H2O
move? Red Blood Cell
 Hypotonic

• A solution with a lower solute concentration

compared to another solution.

Which
way
will 3% Na solution
the 97% H2O
1% Na
water 99% H2O
move? Red Blood Cell
 Isotonic
• A solution with an equal solute concentration
compared to another solution.

Which
way
will 3% Na solution
the 97% H2O 3% Na
water 97% H2O
move? Red Blood Cell
ISOTONIC SOLUTION
HYPOTONIC SOLUTION
HYPERTONIC SOLUTION
 Carrier Proteins
• Function—Transport. Are specific,
combine with only a certain type of
molecule.
• Types
–Facilitated transport--passive
–Active transport—requires energy
Facilitated Transport
Active Transport
The sodium-potassium pump
 Exocytosis and
Endocytosis
• Exocytosis---Cellular secretion
• Endocytosis—
–Phagocytosis— “Cell eating”
–Pinocytosis– “Cell drinking”
–Receptor-mediated
endocytosis-specific particles,
recognition.
Exocytosis
 ENDOCYTOSIS
• is a process in which a substance
gains entry into a cell without passing
through the cell membrane.

• This process is subdivided into three

different types
- Pinocytosis
- Phagocytosis
- Receptor-mediated endocytosis
 Phagocytosis

Phagocytosis 1
Phagocytosis 2
-------------------------------------------
----------------
Pinocytosis
Receptor-mediated
Endocytosis
 MEMBRANE POTENTIALS
In cells of all types, there is an electrical
potential difference between the inside of
the cell and the surrounding extracellular
fluid. This is termed the membrane
potential of the cell.
 what is an electrical potential
difference?
-exists
between two
locations when
there is a net
separation of
charge
between the
two locations.
When a nerve or muscle cell is at "rest", its
membrane potential is called the resting
membrane potential. In a typical neuron,
this is about –70 millivolts (mV). The minus
sign indicates that the inside of the cell
is negative with respect to the surrounding
extracellular fluid.
Thus, two energetic factors influence the
movement of an ion across the membrane

1. The concentration gradient

2. The electric potential membrane
 Nerve Impulses
A nerve impulse is the
way nerve cells (neurons) communicate with
one another. Nerve impulses are
mostly electrical signals along
the dendrites to produce a nerve impulse
or action potential
 SUMMARY
• Phospholipid Bilayer
• Fluid Mosaic Model
• Membrane Proteins
• Diffusion
• Facilitated Diffusion
• Osmosis
• Bulk Transport
• Active Transport