Chapter 5

Active transport

Method of transporting material that requires energy.

Amphiphilic

Molecule possessing a polar or charged area and a nonpolar or uncharged area capable of interacting with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic environments.

Antiporter

Transporter that carries two ions or small molecules in different directions.

Aquaporin

Channel protein that allows water through the membrane at a very high rate.

Carrier protein

Membrane protein that moves a substance across the plasma membrane by changing its own shape.

Channel protein

Membrane protein that allows a substance to pass through its hollow core across the plasma membrane.

Concentration gradient

Area of high concentration adjacent to an area of low concentration.

Diffusion

Passive transport process of low-molecular weight material according to its concentration gradient.

Electrochemical gradient

A combined electrical and chemical force that produces a gradient.

Endocytosis

Type of active transport that moves substances, including fluids and particles, into a cell.

Exocytosis

Process of passing bulk material out of a cell.

Facilitated transport

Process by which material moves down a concentration gradient (from high to low concentration) using integral membrane proteins.

Glycolipid

Combination of carbohydrates and lipids.

Glycoprotein

Combination of carbohydrates and proteins.

Hypertonic

Situation in which extracellular fluid has a higher osmolarity than the fluid inside the cell, resulting in water moving out of the cell.

Hypotonic

Situation in which extracellular fluid has a lower osmolarity than the fluid inside the cell, resulting in water moving into the cell.

Integral protein

Protein integrated into the membrane structure that interacts extensively with the membrane lipids' hydrocarbon chains and often spans the membrane.

Isotonic

Situation in which the extracellular fluid has the same osmolarity as the fluid inside the cell, resulting in no net water movement into or out of the cell.

Osmolarity

Total amount of substances dissolved in a specific amount of liquid.

Osmosis

Transport of water through a semipermeable membrane according to the water's concentration gradient across the membrane that results from the presence of solute that cannot pass through the membrane.

Passive transport

Method of transporting material through a membrane that does not require energy.

Pinocytosis

A variation of endocytosis that imports macromolecules that the cell needs from the extracellular fluid.

Primary active transport

Active transport that moves ions or small molecules across a membrane and may create a difference in charge across that membrane.

Receptor-mediated endocytosis

Variation of endocytosis that involves using specific binding proteins in the plasma membrane for specific molecules or particles, and clathrin-coated pits that become clathrin-coated vesicles.

Secondary active transport

Movement of material that results from primary active transport to the electrochemical gradient.

Solute

Substance dissolved in a liquid to form a solution.

Symporter

Transporter that carries two different ions or small molecules, both in the same direction.

Tonicity

Amount of solute in a solution.

Transport protein

Membrane protein that facilitates a substance's passage across a membrane by binding it.

Uniporter

Transporter that carries one specific ion or molecule.