The Phospholipid Bilayer

(aka the Plasma or Cell

Membrane)
Biology I
Why do cells need water again?
 Water is essential to life
• Life evolved in water some 3 billion years ago
and in a real sense, the cells of organisms
have never left the watery ocean
 B/C water can dissolve and carry substances such as
salts, ions, sugars, proteins, hormones, etc
 Essential for chemical reactions
 Recall properties of water unit
 Take Home: without moisture, a cell dies
 Why do cells need a membrane?
(i.e. what is the purpose of a PM)
 Cells need something to keep the inside living “watery” part
separated from the “outside” world (which may or may not
be water)—BUT ITS MORE THAN JUST A WALL!
 Cells need something to regulate materials coming in (food,
O2, etc) and going out (wastes etc)
• Think of the plasma membrane as the organelle that “regulates” the
traffic of chemicals and other materials into and out of the cell
 For example, we need 100X more potassium ions inside cells than
outside cells for everything to operate smoothly
 Membranes therefore regulate the transport of
substances across the boundary, allowing only certain
substances to pass.
• In this way, a membrane maintains a specific chemical
environment within each compartment it encloses.
• Cells need to maintain a constant internal environment despite a
changing external environment (MAINTAINING ___________)
 Structure of Plasma Membrane
 Composed of phospholipid molecules
• fatty acid chains=are non-polar “tails”
 Like other lipids, these are hydrophobic
 Are tucked inside the “heads” shielded from water
• Phosphate portion= polar (charged) “head”
 Hydrophillic
 Face watery inside or outside
• Forms a two layer “sandwich” of molecules that
surrounds the cell
 Composed of proteins that are embedded in
the phospholipids
• Enzymes are embedded to carry out key reactions
• Help cells communicate and recognize each other
• Transport Proteins help move certain substances that
can’t easily pass through the membrane on their own
Another Animation here…

Hydrophilic Polar Heads

Hydrophobic Non Polar Tails

 See Online Activity 6.2
Pour phopholipids in water…
 How is the PM Structure Related to
What Can and Cannot Enter The Cell?
 Only small, nonpolar and uncharged
substances easily cross the hydrophobic
region of the phospholipid bilayer
• For example: small fats, O2, CO2
• Really large things can’t move through easily at
all (they need help!)
 Polar and charged items DO NOT easily pass
through the membrane
• Glucose, alcohol, water, ions (K+, Na+, Cl-), proteins
 Often these will go through the cell membrane through
protein channels that are themselves polar (NH2+, COO-)
• WATER IS A NOTABLE EXCEPTION!! EVEN
THOUGH IT IS POLAR, IT IS SMALL ENOUGH TO
PASS THROUGH THE PLASMA MEMBRANE or it
can go through protein channels
Movement of Materials into
and out of Cells

See Online Activity 6.3

 Movement of Materials into and out of
Cells
 Passive Transport  Active Transport
• No energy expended • Energy IS expended
by cell by the cell
• Fueled by random • Usually for charged,
movement of polar, or large
molecules molecules
• Substances move • Transport proteins
from high to low are often involved
concentrations • Moves from low to
 Examples include high concentration
• Diffusion
 Movement “uphill”—
against concentration
• Osmosis gradient
• Facilitated diffusion  Think of it as a “pump”
 Diffusion
 Tendency of a substance to move from a
region of high concentration to a region of
low concentration
• i.e. travel “down” the conc. gradient
• EX: Released perfume from a bottle
EX: A drop of dye added to water
 The movement of molecules is impacted
by temperature
• The higher the temperature, the greater the
rate of diffusion b/c molecules are moving
faster…
Diffusion of Dye Molecules
 #1Osmosis (here)
 Osmosis is the “diffusion” of water
• Goes on continuously during life of a cell and plays a vital
role in the health and functioning of cells
 Rarely are the liquids of cells pure water: they
have lots of salts and other polar substances
(solutes) dissolved in them
 The goal of #5osmosis is to produce equal
solute concentrations
• Water moves from low solute concentration to high
solute concentration
• REMEMBER: SALT SUCKS!!!
• See animations #4here and #2here
• #3
See animation about hypotonic, hypertonic, and isotonic
Osmosis
Passive Transport means…
Active Transport…
Active Transport Cont.
 Animations for Transport of
Materials
 Review OLA 6.3
 Membrane transport
 Diffusion/Osmosis
 Osmosis
 Exo and Endodcytosis