Plasma Membrane Structure and Function

Dr. Manikandan Kathirvel M.Sc., Ph.D., (NET)

Assistant Professor,
Department of Life Sciences,
Kristu Jayanti College (Autonomous),
Reaccredited with "A++" Grade by NAAC
K. Narayanapura, Kothanur (PO)
Bengaluru
Key terms

Term Meaning

Specialized structure that surrounds the cell

Cell membrane and its internal environment; controls
movement of substances into/out of cell

Hydrophobic Molecule that repels water (“water-fearing”)

Molecule that is attracted to water (“water-

Hydrophilic
loving”)
Molecule that contains both a hydrophobic
Amphipathic
and a hydrophilic end

Amphipathic lipid made of glycerol, two fatty

Phospholipid
acid tails, and a phosphate group

A biological membrane involving two layers

Phospholipid bilayer of phospholipids with their tails pointing
inward
Membrane that allows certain substances to
Semipermeable membrane
pass through
•
Plasma Membrane
Boundary that separates the living cell from it’s non-living surroundings. The cell
membrane is semipermeable (or selectively permeable)
Fluid mosaic model
• The currently accepted model for the structure of the plasma membrane, called the fluid
mosaic model, was first proposed in 1972 by singer and Nicolson.
• According to the fluid mosaic model, the plasma membrane is a mosaic of
components—primarily, phospholipids, cholesterol, carbohydrate groups and proteins
(integral and membrane)—that move freely and fluidly in the plane of the membrane.
• Phospholipid bilayer-~8 nm thick
• Amphipathic - having both:
hydrophilic heads
hydrophobic tails

Phospholipid
Principal components of the plasma membrane: are lipids (phospholipids and
cholesterol), proteins, and carbohydrate groups that are attached to some of the
lipids and proteins.
•A phospholipid is a lipid made of glycerol, two fatty acid tails, and a phosphate-
linked head group. Biological membranes usually involve two layers of phospholipids
with their tails pointing inward, an arrangement called a phospholipid bilayer.

•Cholesterol, another lipid composed of four fused carbon rings, is found alongside
phospholipids in the core of the membrane.
•Membrane proteins may extend partway into the plasma membrane, cross the
membrane entirely, or be loosely attached to its inside or outside face.
•Carbohydrate groups are present only on the outer surface of the plasma membrane
and are attached to proteins, forming glycoproteins, or lipids, forming glycolipids.
Phospholipids

Phospholipid structure consists of

-glycerol – a 3-carbon polyalcohol acting as a backbone for the
phospholipid
-2 fatty acids attached to the glycerol
-phosphate group attached to the glycerol

The fatty acids are nonpolar chains of carbon and hydrogen.

-Their nonpolar nature makes them hydrophobic (“water-fearing”).

The phosphate group is polar and hydrophilic (“water-loving”).

Each phospholipid molecule has
a head that is attracted to water (hydrophilic: hydro = water;
philic = loving) and
a tail that repels water (hydrophobic: hydro = water; phobic
= fearing).

Both layers of the plasma membrane have the hydrophilic

heads pointing toward the outside; the hydrophobic tails form
the inside of the bilayer.

Because cells reside in a watery solution (extracellular

fluid), and they contain a watery solution inside of them
(cytoplasm), the plasma membrane forms a circle around each
cell so that the water-loving heads are in contact with the
fluid, and the water-fearing tails are protected on the inside.
Proteins
Proteins are the second major component of plasma membranes. There are two
main categories of membrane proteins: integral and peripheral.
Integral membrane proteins are, as their name
suggests, integrated into the membrane:
The portions of an integral membrane protein found
inside the membrane are hydrophobic, while those that
are exposed to the cytoplasm or extracellular fluid tend
to be hydrophilic.

Proteins that extend all the way across the membrane

are called transmembrane proteins.

Integral membrane proteins form a channel that allows

ions or other small molecules to pass.
Proteins
Peripheral membrane proteins are found on the outside and
inside surfaces of membranes, attached either to integral proteins
or to phospholipids.

Unlike integral membrane proteins, peripheral membrane proteins

do not stick into the hydrophobic core of the membrane, and they
tend to be more loosely attached.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are the third major component of plasma membranes. In

general, they are found on the outside surface of cells and are bound
either to proteins (forming glycoproteins) or to lipids
(forming glycolipids).

These carbohydrate chains may consist of 2-60 monosaccharide units

and can be either straight or branched.
 The components of the plasma membrane

Location
Component

Phospholipids Main fabric of the membrane

Tucked between the hydrophobic
Cholesterol
tails of the membrane phospholipids
Embedded in the phospholipid
Integral proteins bilayer; may or may not extend
through both layers
On the inner or outer surface of the
Peripheral proteins phospholipid bilayer, but not
embedded in its hydrophobic core
Attached to proteins or lipids on the
extracellular side of the membrane
Carbohydrates
(forming glycoproteins and
glycolipids)
Thus Cellular membranes have major components:
1. phospholipid bilayer
2. transmembrane proteins
3. interior protein network
4. cell surface markers
5. Cholesterol
6. carbohydrates

Membrane structure is visible using

an electron microscope.

Transmission electron microscopes

(TEM) can show the 2 layers of a
membrane.
 Fluid-Mosaic Model
Outside cell

Inside cell
Why it is called as The Fluid-Mosaic Model of the
Cell Plasma Membrane
The fluid-mosaic model describes the plasma
membrane of animal cells.
The plasma membrane that surrounds the cells, has
two layers (a bilayer) of phospholipids (fats with
phosphorous attached), at which the body temperature
are like vegetable oil (fluid).

Proteins and substances such as cholesterol become

embedded in the bilayer, giving the membrane the
look of a mosaic.

 Because the plasma membrane has the consistency of

vegetable oil at body temperature, the proteins and other
substances are able to move across it. That’s why the
plasma membrane is described using the fluid-mosaic
model.
The molecules that are embedded in the
plasma membrane also serve a purpose. For
example, the cholesterol that is stuck in there
makes the membrane more stable and prevents
it from solidifying when your body temperature
is low.

(It keeps you from literally freezing when

you’re “freezing.”).

 Carbohydrate chains attach to the outer

surface of the plasma membrane on each cell.
These carbohydrates are specific to every
person, and they supply characteristics such as
your blood type.
The proportions of proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates in the plasma membrane vary
between different types of cells.

For a typical human cell, however,

•proteins account for about 50 percent of the composition by mass,

•lipids (of all types) account for about 40 percent,
•and the remaining 10 percent comes from carbohydrates.
 Membrane Functions
• Protection
• Cell to cell Communication
• Selectively allow substances in/out –
Transport (Active/Passive/Faciliated
diffusion, Osmosis)
• Respond to environment
• Recognition of substances
• Cell to cell adhesion (biofilm formation)
• Cell Signaling
• Phagocytosis
Membrane Functions
1. boundaries
6. Cell-cell
2. Localize adhesion
specific
functions

5. Cell-cell
communication
3. transport

4. Signal detection
 (d) Cell-cell recognition. Some glyco-proteins serve as
5. Cell-cell identification tags that are specifically recognized
communication by other cells.

Glyco-
protein

6. Cell-cell (e) Intercellular joining. Membrane proteins of adjacent cells

adhesion may hook together in various kinds of junctions, such as
gap junctions or tight junctions.

(f)
1. Attachment to the cytoskeleton and extracellular matrix
boundaries (ECM). Microfilaments or other elements of the
cytoskeleton may be bonded to membrane proteins,
a function that helps maintain cell shape and stabilizes
the location of certain membrane proteins. Proteins that
adhere to the ECM can coordinate extracellular and
intracellular changes
 major functions of membrane proteins
(a)
Transport. (left) A protein that spans the membrane
may provide a hydrophilic channel across the
3. transport membrane that is selective for a particular solute.
(right) Other transport proteins shuttle a substance
from one side to the other by changing shape.

Some of these proteins hydrolyze ATP as an energy source

to actively pump substances across the membrane.
ATP

2. Localize (b) Enzymes

specific Enzymatic activity. A protein built into the membrane
functions may be an enzyme with its active site exposed to
substances in the adjacent solution. In some cases,
several enzymes in a membrane are organized as
a team that carries out sequential steps of a
metabolic pathway.

(c)
Signal transduction. A membrane protein may have
Signal
a binding site with a specific shape that fits the shape
4. Signal of a chemical messenger, such as a hormone.
detection
The external messenger (signal) may cause a
conformational change in the protein (receptor) that
relays the message to the inside of the cell.

Receptor
Permeability of the Cell Membrane
Differentially Permeable
 Transport

• Diffusion
Plasma membranes must allow certain substances to enter and leave a
cell, and prevent some harmful materials from entering and some
essential materials from leaving. In other words, plasma membranes are
selectively permeable—they allow some substances to pass through, but
not others.

– the passive movement of molecules from a higher to a lower

concentration until equilibrium is reached.
– the active movement of molecules from a lower to a higher
concentration until equilibrium is reached.
– Gases move through plasma membranes by diffusion.

• Osmosis– A special case of diffusion

• Hypertonic
• Hypotonic
• Isotonic
Difference between Diffusion and Osmosis

Osmosis is the diffusion of water through a

semipermeable membrane according to the concentration gradient of
water across the membrane.

Whereas diffusion transports material across membranes and within

cells,

osmosis transports only water across a membrane and

the membrane limits the diffusion of solutes in the water.
DIFFUSION
Passive Transport: Active transport:

1. The movement of molecules 1. The movement of molecules across the

across the plasma membrane plasma membrane from the region of
from the region of higher lower concentration to the region of
concentration to the region of higher concentration against the
lower concentration is called concentration gradient is called active
passive transport or diffusion. transport.
2. Some active transport mechanisms move small-
2. Diffusion occurs through pores molecular weight materials, such as ions, through
present in the cell membrane. the membrane.
3. This process doesnot utilize the
energy. 3. This process is called Up hill movement.
4. Hence this process is called Down 4. It needs energy, the energy is provided
hill movement . by the mitochondria. It requires an
expenditure of energy released from an
ATP molecule.

5. In this case the substances don’t move by

themselves, but they are carried by some
agents in the plasma membrane. These
carrying agents are mainly in the form of
proteins called carrier proteins.
Facilitated diffusion is the passive movement of molecules across the cell
membrane via the aid of a membrane protein.

•It is utilised by molecules that are unable to freely cross the phospholipid bilayer
(e.g. large, polar molecules and ions).

•This process is mediated by two distinct types of transport proteins – channel

proteins and carrier proteins.

Carrier Proteins
•Integral glycoproteins which bind a
solute and undergo a conformational
change to translocate the solute across
the membrane.
•Carrier proteins will only bind a specific
molecule via an attachment similar to an
enzyme-substrate interaction.
•Carrier proteins may move molecules
against concentration gradients in the
presence of ATP (i.e. are used in active
transport).
•Carrier proteins have a much slower rate
of transport than channel proteins (by an
order of ~1,000 molecules per second).
Facilitated diffusion is the passive movement of molecules across the cell
membrane via the aid of a membrane protein.

•It is utilised by molecules that are unable to freely cross the phospholipid bilayer
(e.g. large, polar molecules and ions).

•This process is mediated by two distinct types of transport proteins – channel

proteins and carrier proteins.

Channel Proteins
•Integral lipoproteins which contain a
pore via which ions may cross from one
side of the membrane to the other.

•Channel proteins are ion-selective and

may be gated to regulate the passage of
ions in response to certain stimuli.

•Channel proteins only move molecules

along a concentration gradient (i.e. are not
used in active transport).

•Channel proteins have a much faster rate

of transport than carrier proteins.
Osmosis
• The diffusion of water across a differentially permeable membrane due to concentration
differences
• Osmosis is a form of passive transport that’s similar to diffusion and involves a solvent
moving through a selectively permeable or semipermeable membrane from an area of
higher concentration to an area of lower concentration.

• Solutions are composed of two parts: a solvent and a solute.

• solute+solvent solution

• NaCl +H20saltwater

TONICITY
• Refers to the concentration of SOLUTES
• Is a RELATIVE term, comparing two different solutions
• Hypertonic
• Hypotonic
• Isotonic
 A hypertonic solution has more solute and lower water potential than inside the
cell. So the membrane of a human cell placed in 10 percent saline solution (10
percent salt and 90 percent water) would let water flow out of the cell (from the
higher concentration inside to the lower concentration outside), therefore shrinking
it.

 An isotonic solution has the same concentration of solute and solvent as found
inside a cell, so a cell placed in isotonic solution — typically 1 percent saline
solution for humans — experiences equal flow of water into and out of the cell,
maintaining equilibrium.

 A hypotonic solution has less solute and higher water potential than inside the cell.
An example is 100 percent distilled water, which has less solute than what is
inside the cell. Therefore, if a human cell is placed in a hypotonic solution,
molecules diffuse down the concentration gradient until the cell’s membrane
bursts.
 Hypertonic Solution

• A solution with a greater solute

concentration compared to another
solution.

3% NaCl solution
97% H2O
5% NaCl
95% H2O
Red Blood Cell

Which way
will the
water
move?
 Hypotonic Solution

• A solution with a lower

solute concentration
compared to another
solution.

3% Na
solution
97% H2O
1% Na
99% H2O
Red Blood Cell

Which way
will the
water move?
 Isotonic Solution
• A solution with an equal solute
concentration compared to another
solution.

3% Na solution
97% H2O
3% Na
97% H2O
Red Blood Cell

Which way will

the water
move?
 Exocytosis and
Endocytosis
Endocytosis is the process in which cells absorb molecules by engulfing them.
• The plasma membrane creates a small deformation inward, called an invagination, in
which the substance to be transported is captured.

• Endocytosis is a pathway for internalizing solid particles (“cell eating” or

phagocytosis), small molecules and ions (“cell drinking” or pinocytosis), and
macromolecules.
• Endocytosis requires energy and is thus a form of active transport.
• Endocytosis—
– Phagocytosis— “Cell eating”
– Pinocytosis– “Cell drinking”
– Receptor-mediated endocytosis-specific particles, recognition.

Exocytosis---passing the substance out

Phagocytosis Pinocytosis
Phagocytic Barrier to Infection

Another important innate defense mechanism

is the ingestion of extracellular particulate
material by phagocytosis.

• Phagocytosis is one type of endocytosis,

the general term for the uptake by a cell of
material from its environment. In
phagocytosis, a cell’s plasma membrane
expands around the particulate material,
which may include whole pathogenic
microorganisms, to form large vesicles
called phagosomes.

• Most phagocytosis is conducted by

specialized cells, such as blood
monocytes, neutrophils, and tissue
macrophages.

• Pinocytosis, the process by which cells

take up fluid from the surrounding medium
along with any molecules contained in it.
Exocytosis
Molecules are taken out of the cell
Microvilli Definition
1. Microvilli are tiny little microscopic projections that exist in, on, and around
surface of certain cells.
2. They can exist on their own or in conjunction with villi (projections of some
mucous membranes, most specifically of the small intestine, which are tiny folds
that project out like numerous fingers).
3. On each of the villi, there are even smaller folds that stick out like fingers called
microvilli.
4. Microvilli are most often found in the small intestine, on the surface of egg cells,
as well as on white blood cells.
5. Thousands of microvilli form a structure called the brush border that is found on
the apical surface of some epithelial cells, such as the small intestines.
Functions of Microvilli

1. The microscopic microvilli effectively increase the surface area of the cell
and are useful for absorption and secretion functions.

2. In the intestine, they work in conjunction with villi to absorb more nutrients
and more material because they expand the surface area of the intestine.

3. The microvillar membrane is packed with enzymes that aid in the

breakdown of complex nutrients into simpler compounds that are more
easily absorbed. For example, enzymes that digest carbohydrates
called glycosidases are present at high concentrations on the surface of
enterocyte microvilli. Thus, microvilli not only increase the cellular surface
area for absorption, but they also increase the number of digestive
enzymes that can be present on the cell surface.

4. They play a role in egg cells as they help in anchoring the sperm to the
egg, thus allowing for easier fertilization.
5. In white blood cells, the microvilli act as an anchoring point. They aid in the
migration of white blood cells.
6. The second type of proposed function is to store membrane and
microfilament materials. Motility is another function of microvilli. The
microvilli on the cell surface may sweep unwanted materials toward a
resorptive area of the cell.
7. They are also involved in a wide variety of other functions, which include
absorption, secretion, cellular adhesion, and mechanotransduction.
Desmosomes

Desmosomes are a type of anchoring junction in animal

tissues that connect adjacent cells.
Desmosomes are intercellular junctions that provide
strong adhesion between cells. Because they also link
intracellularly to the intermediate
filament cytoskeleton they form the adhesive bonds in a
network that gives mechanical strength to tissues.

The function of desmosomes is to adhere cells together.

They are found in high numbers in tissues that are subject

to a lot of mechanical forces.

For example, many are found in the epidermis, which is

the outer layer of skin, and the myocardium, which
is muscle tissue in the heart. They are also found in
between squamous epithelial cells, which form the lining
of body parts like the heart, blood vessels, air sacs of the
lungs, and esophagus.
Gap Junction
Gap junctions are a type of cell junction in which adjacent cells are connected
through protein channels. These channels connect the cytoplasm of each cell and
allow molecules, ions, and electrical signals to pass between them. gap junctions are
made up of connexin proteins.

Function of Gap Junctions

The main function of gap junctions is to connect cells together so that molecules may
pass from one cell to the other.

This allows for cell-to-cell communication, and makes it so that molecules can
directly enter neighboring cells without having to go through the extracellular
fluid surrounding the cells.

Gap junctions are especially important during embryonic development, a time when
neighboring cells must communicate with each other in order for them to develop in
the right place at the right time. If gap junctions are blocked, embryos cannot develop
normally.
Tight Junctions
Tight junctions are areas where the membranes of two adjacent cells join together to
form a barrier.

The cell membranes are connected by strands of transmembrane proteins such as

claudins and occludins.

Tight junctions bind cells together, prevent molecules from passing in between the
cells, and also help to maintain the polarity of cells.

Transmembrane proteins are able to anchor on the cell

surface by direct embedding into the lipid bilayer. is a
type of integral membrane protein that spans the entirety
of the cell membrane.
FUNCTIONS OF PLASMA MEMBRANE
 Plasma membrane separates the components of the cell from its outside
environment. The cell membrane physically separates the intracellular
components (e.g.organelles in eukaryotic cells) from the extracellular
environment.
 The most important function of plasma membrane is to provide passage for
various substances, into and out of the cell and regulates flow of water and
inorganic molecules through it. It allows only selected substances into the
cell and keeps others out.

 Plasma membrane is selectively permeable, allows some solute particles

(1-15A⁰) to pass through it readily along with solvents.

 It acts as a protective layer, from the uptake of some harmful molecules.

 Cell membranes often include receptor sites for interaction with specific
biochemical such as certain hormones, neurotransmitters and immune proteins.

 It helps in conversion of signals conveyed by some extra cellular agents.

 In this way, the cell can recognize and process some signals received from the
extracellular environment.

 Diffusion of different gases takes place through plasma membrane

 Oligosaccharide molecules (in the form of Glycolipid/Glycoprotein) of the cell
membrane help in cell to cell recognition/recognizing self from non self.

 Plasma membrane has a major role in protecting the integrity of the interior of
the cell.

 Plasma membrane serves as a base of attachment for the cytoskeleton in

some organisms and cell walls in other organisms.

 Plasma membrane provides cell shape (in animal cells) e.g. the characteristic
shape of red blood cells, nerve cells, bone cells, etc.