Transport Across Single Biological Membranes

This second Volume in the series on Membrane Transport in Biology contains a group of essays on transport across single biological membranes separating the inside and outside of cells or organelles. We have not attempted to include material on all types of plasma and intracellular membranes, but rather have emphasized structures which have been studied relatively thoroughly. Four chapters describe transport of different types of molecules and ions across the plasma membranes of mammalian red cells. Two essays concern the excitable membranes of nerve and muscle cells while the remaining four chapters treat transport across several types of intracellular membranes. Water makes up more than two-thirds of the mass of most living cells. The transport of water between the inside and outside of cells and organelles is important for the function of these structures. As a result of investigations in many laboratories over the past four decades, our picture of the water permea bility of the red cell membranes is rather detailed when compared to the water permeability of other biological membranes. In Chapter 1, R. I. Macey describes this picture and also considers the permeability of red cell membranes to non electrolytes, including metabolic substrates such as sugars, amino acids, purines and nucleosides.

This second Volume in the series on Membrane Transport in Biology contains a group of essays on transport across single biological membranes separating the inside and outside of cells or organelles. We have not attempted to include material on all types of plasma and intracellular membranes, but rather have emphasized structures which have been studied relatively thoroughly. Four chapters describe transport of different types of molecules and ions across the plasma membranes of mammalian red cells. Two essays concern the excitable membranes of nerve and muscle cells while the remaining four chapters treat transport across several types of intracellular membranes. Water makes up more than two-thirds of the mass of most living cells. The transport of water between the inside and outside of cells and organelles is important for the function of these structures. As a result of investigations in many laboratories over the past four decades, our picture of the water permea bility of the red cell membranes is rather detailed when compared to the water permeability of other biological membranes. In Chapter 1, R. I. Macey describes this picture and also considers the permeability of red cell membranes to non electrolytes, including metabolic substrates such as sugars, amino acids, purines and nucleosides.

This second Volume in the series on Membrane Transport in Biology contains a group of essays on transport across single biological membranes separating the inside and outside of cells or organelles. We have not attempted to include material on all types of plasma and intracellular membranes, but rather have emphasized structures which have been studied relatively thoroughly. Four chapters describe transport of different types of molecules and ions across the plasma membranes of mammalian red cells. Two essays concern the excitable membranes of nerve and muscle cells while the remaining four chapters treat transport across several types of intracellular membranes. Water makes up more than two-thirds of the mass of most living cells. The transport of water between the inside and outside of cells and organelles is important for the function of these structures. As a result of investigations in many laboratories over the past four decades, our picture of the water permea bility of the red cell membranes is rather detailed when compared to the water permeability of other biological membranes. In Chapter 1, R. I. Macey describes this picture and also considers the permeability of red cell membranes to non electrolytes, including metabolic substrates such as sugars, amino acids, purines and nucleosides.

Transport and Diffusion across Cell Membranes is a comprehensive treatment of the transport and diffusion of molecules and ions across cell membranes. This book shows that the same kinetic equations (with appropriate modification) can describe all the specialized membrane transport systems: the pores, the carriers, and the two classes of pumps. The kinetic formalism is developed step by step and the features that make a system effective in carrying out its biological role are highlighted. This book is organized into six chapters and begins with an introduction to the structure and dynamics of cell membranes, followed by a discussion on how the membrane acts as a barrier to the transmembrane diffusion of molecules and ions. The following chapters focus on the role of the membrane's protein components in facilitating transmembrane diffusion of specific molecules and ions, measurements of diffusion through pores and the kinetics of diffusion, and the structure of such pores and their biological regulation. This book methodically introduces the reader to the carriers of cell membranes, the kinetics of facilitated diffusion, and cotransport systems. The primary active transport systems are considered, emphasizing the pumping of an ion (sodium, potassium, calcium, or proton) against its electrochemical gradient during the coupled progress of a chemical reaction while a conformational change of the pump enzyme takes place. This book is of interest to advanced undergraduate students, as well as to graduate students and researchers in biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, and biophysics.