Active Transport and Bulk Transport

Vocabulary terms covering cellular transport mechanisms, including the sodium-potassium pump, bulk transport, endocytosis (phagocytosis and pinocytosis), and exocytosis.

Sodium-potassium pump

An active transport mechanism requiring ATP that pumps three sodium ions out of the cell and brings two potassium ions into the cell against their concentration gradients.

Bulk transport

An overarching type of active transport that requires energy to move large quantities or very large molecules into and out of the cell.

Endocytosis

The active process of taking substances into the cell by enclosing them within a vesicle formed from the cell membrane.

Exocytosis

The active transport process in which a vesicle fuses with the cell membrane to release molecules, waste, or proteins out of the cell.

Vesicle

A small membrane-bound sac made of the same phospholipid bilayer as the cell membrane that pinches off to enclose and transport molecules.

Phagocytosis

A form of endocytosis known as cellular eating, in which the cell membrane engulfs large, solid particles like proteins or food and traps them in a vesicle.

Pinocytosis

A form of endocytosis known as cellular drinking, in which the cell encloses and brings large amounts of liquids into the cell.

Golgi

The organelle described as the UPS packaging center of the cell that surrounds molecules like proteins in a vesicle to be transported to the cell membrane for exocytosis.