Chapter Four

The Cell Membrane

 Learning Objectives
 After the end of this chapter the students will able to:

 Describe the fluid mosaic model of membrane structure and explain the underlying
reasons for this structure.

 Explain the lipid bilayer and its composition

 Outline the roles of phospholipids, cholesterol, glycolipids, proteins and glycoproteins

in membranes.

 Outline the roles of the plasma membrane, and the roles of membranes within cells.
 Introduction
 The plasma membrane is a partially permeable barrier between the cell and its
environment.

 It keeps the contents of the cell separate from its environment, and limits what
molecules can enter and leave the cell.

 It acts as the site for certain chemical reactions and enables the cell to communicate
with other cells through the process of cell signaling.
 Con’t
 A cell membrane is also known as plasma membrane.

 Controls exchange of materials such as nutrients and waste between cells and their
environment.

 Has other important functions for example to enable cells to receive hormones.

 To understand the function of anything in biology, you must study the structure first!
 Internal Membranes (Organelle Membranes)

 Other membranes in the cell separate the organelles from the cytoplasm.

 These compartmentalize the cell, separating processes so that each process can occur in a specialized area
of the cell.

 For example, all the enzymes involved in one process can be kept together and other processes do not
interfere.

 Concentration gradients can be formed across the membranes.

 The membranes may act as the sites of specific chemical reactions, such as oxidative phosphorylation in
aerobic respiration.
 Discovery of the lipid bilayer
 Charles Overton showed that Non-polar chemicals were usually able to cross the boundary quite
easily and suggested that the boundary layer was made up of cholesterol or fatty oils
 Gorter And Grendel View
 Gorter and Grendel used the blood cells for experiment and investigated the surface area of lipids.

 This was done by using a microscope.

 They proposed that the plasma membrane is constructed by two lipid layers with the polar head
groups pointing toward the aqueous environment.
 Models Cell Membrane
Davson And Danielli Model
 Danielli and Davson proposed a model called sandwich
model in which a lipid bilayers are coated with hydrated
proteins (globular proteins).
 Singer and Nicolson View
 Singer & Nicolson proposed that most of the membranes lipids are in the form of bilayer and
the membrane proteins are partially or wholly embedded in the lipid bilayer .

 This model is called fluid-mosaic model.

 The membrane proteins play an active role in the structure and function of the membrane.

 They are of two types peripheral (extrinsic) and integral (intrinsic).

Hydrophilic region
of protein

Phospholipid
bilayer

Hydrophobic region of protein

 Membrane Composition and Structure
 The physical organization and functioning of all biological membranes depend on their
constituents:

 Lipids,

 Proteins, and

 Carbohydrates.

 The lipids establish the physical integrity of the membrane and create an effective barrier to
the rapid passage of hydrophilic materials such as water and ions.

 In addition, the phospholipid bilayer serves as a lipid “lake” in which a variety of proteins
“float”.

 This general design is known as the fluid mosaic model.

 The fluid mosaic model of membrane structure
 The fluid mosaic model describes the molecular arrangement of the membranes in a
cell.

 A fluid mosaic membrane consists of:

 A bilayer of phospholipid molecules

 Cholesterol which regulates the fluidity of the membrane, making it more stable

 Glycolipids and glycoproteins that function in cell signalling or cell attachment

 Protein molecules that float in the phospholipid bilayer.

 Con’t
 Some proteins are partially held on the surface of the membrane. These are called extrinsic proteins.

 Others are embedded in the membrane these are also called intrinsic proteins.

 Some proteins float freely in the bilayer whereas others may be bound to other components in the
membrane or to structures inside the cell.
 Membrane Composition and Structure
 Current model – Fluid-Mosaic Model
 The lipid bilayer is the core of the model

 Focus on the physical state of the lipid

 Present in a fluid state

 Individual lipid molecules move laterally

 Proteins penetrate the entire bilayer and exist as a

mosaic
 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.

 States that a cell membrane is a lipid bilayer with both peripheral and integral
proteins.

 The proteins and lipids are moving and fixed in position.

 Membrane Structure
 Chemical composition

Membranes are lipid-protein assemblies

 Held together by non-covalent bonds

 Core – a sheet of lipids – bimolecular layer

 A structural backbone

 Barrier

 Proteins – specific functions

 Carbohydrates
 Glycolipids

 Glycoprotein
Membrane is a Mosic of proteins & other molecules embedded in the fluid matrix of the lipid
bilayer

Glycoprotein Extracellular
fluid
Glycolipid

Phospholipi
ds
Choleste
rol Transmembrane
proteins
Peripheral
protein Cytoplasm Filaments of
cytoskeleton
 Phospholipids
 Phospholipids form a barrier that limits movement of some substances into and out of the cell

 Or, into and out of the organelles, so the membrane is partially permeable.

 Small, fat-soluble substances dissolve into the phospholipid bilayer and diffuse across the
membrane.

 Water-soluble molecules and ions cannot easily dissolve and cross the membrane.

 Small molecules like water may diffuse across slowly, but most require special transport
mechanisms.
 Phospholipids Phosphate
 Fatty acid tails hydrophobic

 Phosphate group head hydrophilic

 Arranged as a bilayer Fatty acid

 Con’t

Polar hydrophilic
heads

Nonpolar
hydrophobic tails

polar
Hydrophilic heads
 Phospholipid bilayer
 The lipids and proteins in the cell membrane are not fixed in position but constantly moving.

 The proteins move laterally within the cell membrane – lateral diffusion

 While the lipids can move both laterally and rotate 360 degrees – flip-flop diffusion
 Membrane Structure
 All biological membranes have a similar structure, but membranes from different cells or
organelles may differ greatly in their lipid composition.

 Phospholipids differ in terms of

 fatty acid chain length,

 degree of unsaturation (double bonds) in the fatty acids, and

 the polar (phosphate-containing) groups present.

 In addition to phospholipids, membranes may contain cholesterol, a different type of lipid.

 Con’t
 Lipids and proteins can readily move laterally and can also undergo rotation.

 The degree of membrane fluidity is determined by temperature, cholesterol and lipid composition.

 Lipids with shorter fatty acid chains are less rigid and remain fluid at lower temperatures.

 This is because interactions between shorter chains is weaker than for longer chains.

 Lipids containing unsaturated fatty acids increase membrane fluidity (why ?)

 Cholesterol
 Cholesterol fits between the tails of the phospholipid molecules.

 It inhibits movement of the phospholipids, reducing the fluidity

of the membrane

 It also holds the phospholipid tails together, for mechanical

stability.

 Cholesterol makes the membrane less permeable to water and

ions.
 Membrane Carbohydrates
Glycolipids and glycoproteins
 The carbohydrate group on the protein or lipid molecule always has a specific shape and is used to recognize
the cell — to identify it as ‘self’ or ‘foreign’.

 Antigens on cell surfaces are usually glycolipids or glycoproteins.

 Drugs and hormones can bind to these membrane-bound receptors.

 Medicines can be made to fit the receptors on certain cells.

 Cells communicate in an organism by cell signaling to coordinate the activities of the organism.

 The shape of the glycoprotein or glycolipid may be complementary to the shape of a signaling molecule in
the body.
 Con’t
 Such complementary shapes can be used as binding sites to which the signaling molecules (e.g.
hormones and neurotransmitter molecules in a synapse) attach.

 If the correct binding site is not present, the cell cannot respond to the signalling molecule.

 Binding sites are also used for cell attachment — the cells of a tissue bind together to hold the tissue
together.
 Membrane carbohydrates
 Play a key role in cell-cell recognition

 ability of a cell to distinguish one cell from

another

 antigens

 important in organ & tissue development

 basis for rejection of foreign cells by immune

system
 Membrane Proteins
 Proteins have a variety of functions, such as enzymatic activity and cell signalling.

 However, many functions involve moving substances across the membrane.

 For example, some proteins may form:

 pores that allow the movement of molecules that cannot dissolve in the phospholipid bilayer

 carrier molecules that allow facilitated diffusion Integral Proteins

 active pumps
 Functions of Membrane Proteins
 Transport Proteins

 Receptor Proteins

 Enzymatic Proteins

 Cell Recognition Proteins

 Attachment Proteins

 Intercellular Junction Proteins

 Transport Proteins
 Channel Proteins – channel for lipid insoluble
molecules and ions to pass freely through

 Carrier Proteins – bind to a substance and carry

it across membrane, change shape in process

Carrier Proteins

Carrier Proteins
 Receptor Proteins
 Bind to chemical messengers (Ex. hormones) which sends a message into
the cell causing cellular reaction

Enzymatic Proteins
 Carry out enzymatic reactions right at the membrane when a substrate binds
to the active site

Cell Recognition Proteins

 Glycoproteins on extracellular surface serve as cell recognition proteins.
 Attachment Proteins
 Attach to cytoskeleton to maintain cell shape and stabilize
proteins.

Intercellular Junction Proteins

 Tight junctions, are the closely associated areas of two
cells whose membranes join together forming a virtually
impermeable barrier to fluid.
 Proteins domains anchor molecule
 Within membrane
 nonpolar amino acids

 hydrophobic

 anchors protein into membrane

 On outer surfaces of membrane

 polar amino acids

 hydrophilic

 extend into extracellular fluid & into cytosol

 Membrane Functions
1. Compartmentalization
 Membranes are continuous and unbroken

 Plasma membrane encloses the entire cell contents

 Nuclear and cytoplasmic membranes – enclose specific intracellular spaces

 Specialized activities proceed and are independently regulated

 Membrane Functions
2. Selectively permeable barrier
 Regulation of passage of specific solutes

 Machinery for transporting substances

 Often a solute is transported from a region of low concentration to a region of high concentration

 Accumulation of fuels (sugars / fatty acids) and building blocks (aa)

 Transport of specific ions – establishing ionic gradients – essential in nerve and muscle function

3 Response to external environment

 Signal transduction
 Receptors which bind specific ligands

 Interaction of the receptor may cause membrane involvement in signaling inhibition or stimulation of internal activities
 Membrane Functions
4. Intercellular interaction
 Allows cells to recognize and signal each other Many Functions of Membrane Proteins
 To adhere

 To exchange materials/information
 Summery Membrane Functions
 Cell Membrane provides the following basic functions.
Channel protein and carrier protein- involved in the selective transport of polar molecule and ion
across the membrane

Enzymes- membrane proteins sometimes act as enzymes

Receptor molecules- proteins have very specific shapes and this makes them ideal as receptor
molecules for chemical signaling between cells.

Antigens- these act as cell identity markers or ''name tag''.

Glycolipids- branching carbohydrates are involved in cell-cell recognition.

Energy Transfer- during photosynthesis and cellular respiration

Cholesterol- reduce entry of polar molecules through the membrane.