Movement of substances in and out of cells

Substances can enter or leave a cell through the membrane by passive processes (use no
energy) and by active processes (use energy).
The membrane controls the movement of some substances as it is selectively permeable.
All membranes are fully permeable to water, oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Diffusion is the net movement of molecules from a region of their higher concentration to
a region of their lower concentration down a concentration gradient. It is due to the
random movement of the molecules that occurs in gases and liquids.
Examples
1 Leaf gaseous exchange
As the leaf is using up CO2 for photosynthesis, the concentration inside the leaf is always
near zero i.e. CO2 from air (although only 0.04% of air) diffuses into the leaf.
2 Alveolar gaseous exchange
The body uses O2 in respiration to produce energy. Blood returning to lung has low O 2
concentration and therefore O2 diffuses from the air in the alveolus of the lung into blood
where it dissolves then combines with haemoglobin
CO2 made by cell respiration is in a high concentration in the blood returning to the lung
and diffuses in the opposite direction from the blood to the alveolar air
The Diffusion Gradient is the difference in concentration between high and low
concentration - the higher the concentration gradient, the faster the rate of diffusion.
The body maintains a high diffusion gradient in the lungs by:
Haemoglobin in red blood cells absorbs the O2 keeping its concentration in the blood
near to zero
Ventilation (breathing) to keep O2 conc. high and CO2 conc. low in the alveolar air
3

Exchange between blood and tissues works by diffusion. Substances the cells utilise
will be in low concentrations, substances they produce will be in high concentrations

Place H, L and an arrow showing the concentrations and direction of flow from the blood
in the capillary to and from the tissues. Water also enters and exits due to blood pressure
and also osmosis

Tissues
L
Urea

Glucose

Oxygen
Blood in capillary

Carbon dioxide

Amino acids
H

If a cell is using glucose very rapidly then its concentration will be very low so the
diffusion gradient will be very high between blood and cells and therefore diffusion of
glucose from blood to tissues automatically increases in rate. Therefore an active cell
requiring more nutrients will automatically receive them from the blood by more rapid
diffusion.
The body homeostatically regulates the concentrations of glucose, amino acids, minerals,
water (and heat) in the blood and this has the effect of regulating the cell concentrations
of these substances
Osmosis
Is the diffusion of water molecules from a hypotonic (dilute) solution to a hypertonic
(concentrated) solution through a partially permeable membrane (diffusion because the
water is moving from a region of its higher concentration to a region of lower
concentration).
Cell membranes are permeable (allow free entry/exit) to water
They are impermeable to large molecules such as proteins, starch, and glycogen
If a cell cytoplasm contains more salts/sugars/proteins than the surrounding medium,
water will enter the cell by osmosis because the cytoplasm is hypertonic to its
environment.
The greater the concentration of solutes in the cell, the greater is the water potential,
the ability of the cell to absorb water by osmosis.
Examples:
Soil water contains a higher concentration of water than the root hair cell
cytoplasm so water will pass into the cell by osmosis and the cell will become turgid.
S Water potential is a measure of the ability of a solution to absorb water by
osmosis a root hair cell must have a higher water potential than the soil water
surrounding it to be able to absorb water (hence salt water incursion can destroy
crop plants)

 Red blood cells placed in distilled water will absorb water and burst (animal cells
have no cell wall)
Putting salt on fresh food dries and shrinks the food as water exits by osmosis
The cell membrane is vital to osmosis as it keeps the dissolved solutes inside the cell.
http://www.biotopics.co.uk/life/osmsis.html
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/molecu1.htm#osmosis 19/07/10

Organisms have systems for transporting substances round the body in solution in water
(e.g. blood in animals; phloem translocation and xylem water and mineral transport in
plants). The transport system exchanges materials with the environment and with the
tissues by diffusion and osmosis.
Water is the universal solvent for all living systems. It is the medium in which all
molecular movement occurs in the body and for all of the biochemical reactions which
occur.
All the reactions in the body occur in solution in water, therefore the oxygen must dissolve
in water this happens on the moist surface of the alveolar and palisade cells.