Lesson 3: The Cell

The Human Cell

• At least 1 trillion cells make up our bodies.
• If each cell was the size of a standard brick, we could build a structure
with the form of a human body that would be over 5.5 miles high!
• Make the smallest dot you can with your pencil on a piece of paper—the
average cell of your body is about 1/5 that size.
• We have about 200 different types of cells.
• Nerve cells are longest; the egg is the largest spherical cell.
• Sperm cells are the smallest.
 Basic Cell Functions
• Protection and support
• Movement
• Communication
• Metabolism and energy release
• Division
• Inheritance
 Basic Structure

• Cell or plasma membrane

• Cytoplasm
• Nucleus
 Parts of a Human Cell
Be sure you can identify these structures and what they do:

• Microtubules
• Mitochondria
• Centriole
• Vesicle
• Cytosol
• Ribosomes
• Plasma membrane
• Flagellum
• Lysosome
• Golgi apparatus
Rough endoplasmic reticulum
Diagram by Mariana Ruiz
•
• Smooth endoplasmic reticulum
• Nucleus (including nuclear envelope, nuclear pore, chromatin, and
nucleolus)
 The Plasma (Cell) Membrane
• Keeps a cell intact.
• Is selectively permeable:
• Regulates the movement of molecules and ions
into and out of the cell.
• Maintains the specialized microenvironment
critical for cell function.
• Facilitates communication with the “outside world”
• Phospholipid bilayer
• Hydrophobic tail and hydrophilic head
• Protein, cholesterol and carbohydrates are included
in the membrane
• Proteins serve as:
• Channels and carriers for letting or moving
things in and out of the cell
• Receptors for chemical messengers
• Glycoproteins serve as antigens to let immune system
know they are supposed to be there.
 How Do Things Get In and Out of the
Cell?
• Passive Transport
• Active Transport
• Endocytosis or Exocytosis
 Passive Transport: Diffusion
Diffusion is the movement of molecules from high concentration to low
concentration with or without the help of a transport protein.

Be sure you can answer these questions:

• Which direction can molecules be passively transported?
• How (in what ways) are molecules passively transported?
• What kinds of molecules can be passively transported?

• Passive transport can mean diffusion through the bilayer of the cell.
• Molecules must be lipid soluble.
• What happens if they are not?
• Diffusion through channels uses proteins that extend through the plasma
membrane.
• Proteins form channels or openings which may be permanently open or
may be open or closed depending on conditions within and around the
membrane.
• Examples of molecules that diffuse through channels: water, sodium,
potassium, calcium.
 Passive Transport: Osmosis
Osmosis is a process of diffusion but only for water.
• Osmosis occurs when there is an unequal concentration of water on either
side of a membrane.
• Water will move in either direction until an equilibrium (balance) is
attained.
• Water enters and exits cells through open (not gated) channels.
• To watch an animated diagram of osmosis, visit the this website.
 Passive Transport: 3 Types
• Diffusion through the lipid layer: Lipid-soluble molecules (O2, CO2,
etc.) diffuse through the membrane.
• Diffusion through channels: Some charged and polar molecules, such as
water, diffuse through the protein channels in the membrane.
• Facilitated transport: Proteins in the cell membrane bind to molecules
such as glucose, and change shape to pull the molecule through the
membrane.
• Facilitated diffusion or transport does not involve a channel, but it does
involve a protein that spans the membrane.
• Interaction between the molecule to be transported and the protein that
will carry it (the carrier protein) induces a change in the protein’s shape
or orientation.
• The molecule is moved to the opposite side of the plasma membrane.
Glucose is an example of a molecule that enters cells through facilitated
transport.
 Active Transport
Active transport requires energy and moves molecules against the
concentration gradient. It involves proteins that span the plasma membrane.

Be sure you can answer these questions:

• Why active transport?
• Which direction can molecules be actively transported?
• What kinds of molecules can be actively transported?
 Endocytosis & Exocytosis
These processes are the bulk movement of many molecules. They create
(endocytosis) or use (exocytosis) membrane-bound vesicles.
• Endocytosis brings molecules into the cell.
• Exocytosis moves molecules out of the cell.

Be sure you can answer these questions:

• Why do cells use endocytosis?
• Why do cells use exocytosis?
 Types of Endocytosis

Phagocytosis (“cell eating”): cells engulf

bacteria or other large particles.

Pinocytosis (“cell drinking”): cells engulf

droplets of extracellular fluid and substances
dissolved in it.

Diagrams by Mariana Ruiz Villarreal.

Exocytosis

Diagram by Mariana Ruiz Villarreal.

 Organelle (Small Organ)
Organelles are all the little structures present in and that function together in a
cell.

Organelles and their functions:

• Nucleus: Houses genetic information (DNA).
• Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum: Acts as the “Workbench” for protein
synthesis.
• Ribosome: Carries out protein synthesis.
• Smooth Endoplasmic Reticulum: Carries out lipid synthesis.
• Golgi Apparatus: Processes, packages and distributes molecules.
• Lysosome: Carries out intracellular digestion.
• Mitochondria: Acts as the “Powerhouse” ATP.
• Vesicle and Vacuoles: Handle storage and transport of substances.
• Cytoskeleton: Provides the structure of the cell.
• Cell Membrane: Defines the cell’s limits and provides protection.
Organelle Diagram

Source: www.nigms.nih.gov/news/ science_ed/lifeart1.html

 Nucleus: Genetic Info
The nucleus is made up of four parts:
• Chromatin (DNA & associated proteins): where our genes are located; they
become chromosomes before cell division.
• Nucleolus: rRNA is made here.
• Nuclear Envelope: double-layer membrane, continuous with the
endoplasmic reticulum.
• Nuclear Pores: little holes that stuff goes in and out of (mRNA and ribosome
leave and proteins enter).
 Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum
• It’s called “rough” because it has
ribosomes stuck all over it, not because it
grew up in a tough neighborhood.
• It is the cell’s “Workbench.”
• Protein synthesis happens here.
• Protein is made and stored and packaged
for movement.

From The Cell Web site.

 Ribosome
• Includes two subunits (as you can see).
• Ribosomes are the site of protein
synthesis.
• They can be free floating in the
cytoplasm (cell fluid).
• They are mostly attached to the rough
ER.

Illustration by David S. Goodsell of The Scripps Research

Institute
 Smooth Endoplasmic Reticulum
• Site of lipid synthesis.
• Smooth (lack of ribosomes) and tube-
like, further away from the nucleus than
rough ER.
• Can you see the division?

From: http://cellbio.utmb.edu/cellbio/ser.htm
 Golgi Apparatus
• Package and transport center.
• Receives vesicles from ER and sends out vesicle to plasma membrane or
lysosomes that carry out intercellular digestion.
• Help modify protein and lipids prior to secretion.
• Shaped like a stack of pancakes.

Courtesy of Clipart.com Micrograph by Louisa Howard.

 Lysosome
(speaking of food)
• Carry digestive enzymes that break
stuff down inside the cell.
• Single-layered membrane immune to
enzyme breakdown from the inside.

Micrograph from Cells—The Building Bricks of Life Web site.

 Mitochondria
• “Power house” of the cell.
• Makes ATP from pyruvate (which comes from glucose) with a little help
from oxygen.
• Has two phospholipid bilayers.

Original image from National Institutes of Health, micrograph Diagram by Tinojasontran.

added by Countincr
 Vesicles and Vacuoles
• Bud off ER, cell membrane, and Golgi
apparatus.
• Store and transport stuff.
• Facilitate entry (endocytosis) of stuff.
• Also facilitate exit (exocytosis) of stuff.

Micrograph from HDP—A Novel Heme Detoxification Protein

from the Malaria Parasite PLoS Pathog. 2008 Apr
25;4(4):e1000053 by Jani D, Nagarkatti R, Beatty W, Angel R,
Slebodnick C, Andersen J, Kumar S, Rathore D.
 Cytoskeleton
• Gives cells shape.
• Provides framework for organelle
anchoring and/or movement.
• Components:
• Microtubules: Hollow
structures that support cell
division, part of cilia & flagella.
• Actin filaments: Long, thin
fibers that give support and
facilitate cell movement.
 Flagella and Cilia
Cilia and Flagella are specialized microtubules used for movement.

Flagella of E-coli Cilia in the Lungs

Micrograph by Louisa
Howard.

From Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Public Health Image Library
 Actin Filaments
• Play a huge role in muscle
movement, as we will learn
later in the course.

Diagram by Thomas Splettstoesser.