The Cell and Its Functions

Chapter 2: The Cell and Its

Functions. Guyton and Hall
medical physiology

Ana Abesadze MD
Organization of the Cell
A typical cell, as seen by the light microscope. Its
two major parts are the nucleus and the cytoplasm.
The nucleus is separated from the cytoplasm by a
nuclear membrane, and the cytoplasm is
separated from the surrounding fluids by a cell
membrane, also called the plasma membrane.
The different substances that make up the cell are
collectively called protoplasm.
Protoplasm is composed mainly of five basic
substances: water, electrolytes, proteins, lipids,
and carbohydrates
Water
The principal fluid medium of the cell is
water, which is present in most cells,
except for fat cells, in a concentration of
70 to 85 percent. Many cellular
chemicals are dissolved in the water.
Others are suspended in the water as
solid particulates. Chemical reactions
take place among the dissolved
chemicals or at the surfaces of the
suspended particles or membranes.
Ions
Important ions in the cell include potassium, magnesium, phosphate, sulfate,
bicarbonate, and smaller quantities of sodium, chloride, and calcium. The ions
provide inorganic chemicals for cellular reactions.

Also, they are necessary for operation of some of the cellular control mechanisms.
For instance, ions acting at the cell membrane are required for transmission of
electrochemical impulses in nerve and muscle fibers.
Proteins
After water, the most abundant substances in most cells are proteins, which
normally constitute 10 to 20 percent of the cell mass. These can be divided into
two types: structural proteins and functional proteins
Structural proteins
are present in the cell mainly in the form of long filaments that are polymers of
many individual protein molecules.
A prominent use of such intracellular filaments is to form microtubules that
provide the “cytoskeletons” of such cellular organelles as cilia, nerve axons, the
mitotic spindles of mitosing cells, and a tangled mass of thin filamentous tubules
that hold the parts of the cytoplasm and nucleoplasm together in their respective
compartments.
Extracellularly, fibrillar proteins are found especially in the collagen and elastin
fibers of connective tissue and in blood vessel walls, tendons, ligaments, and so
forth.
The functional proteins
are an entirely different type of protein, usually composed of combinations of a few
molecules in tubular-globular form.
These proteins are mainly the enzymes of the cell and, in contrast to the fibrillar proteins,
are often mobile in the cell fluid.
Also, many of them are adherent to membranous structures inside the cell.
The enzymes come into direct contact with other substances in the cell fluid and thereby
catalyze specific intracellular chemical reactions.
For instance, the chemical reactions that split glucose into its component parts and then
combine these with oxygen to form carbon dioxide and water while simultaneously
providing energy for cellular function are all catalyzed by a series of protein enzymes.
Lipids
Lipids are several types of substances that are grouped together because of their common
property of being soluble in fat solvents.
Especially important lipids are phospholipids and cholesterol, which together constitute only
about 2 percent of the total cell mass.
The significance of phospholipids and cholesterol is that they are mainly insoluble in water and,
therefore, are used to form the cell membrane and intracellular membrane barriers that separate
the different cell compartments.
In addition to phospholipids and cholesterol, some cells contain large quantities of triglycerides,
also called neutral fat. In the fat cells, triglycerides often account for as much as 95 percent of the
cell mass. The fat stored in these cells represents the body’s main storehouse of energy-giving
nutrients that can later be dissolved and used to provide energy wherever in the body it is
needed.
Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates have little structural function in the cell except as parts of

glycoprotein molecules, but they play a major role in nutrition of the cell.
Most human cells do not maintain large stores of carbohydrates;
The amount usually averages about 1 percent of their total mass but increases to
as much as 3 percent in muscle cells and, occasionally, 6 percent in liver cells.
However, carbohydrate in the form of dissolved glucose is always present in the
surrounding extracellular fluid so that it is readily available to the cell.
Also, a small amount of carbohydrate is stored in the cells in the form of
glycogen, which is an insoluble polymer of glucose that can be depolymerized
and used rapidly to supply the cells’ energy needs.
Physical Structure of the Cell
The cell is not merely a bag of fluid, enzymes,
and chemicals; it also contains highly
organized physical structures, called
intracellular organelles. The physical nature of
each organelle is as important as the cell’s
chemical constituents for cell function. For
instance, without one of the organelles, the
mitochondria, more than 95 percent of the
cell’s energy release from nutrients would
cease immediately
Membranous Structures of the Cell
Most organelles of the cell are covered by membranes composed primarily of
lipids and proteins. These membranes include the cell membrane, nuclear
membrane, membrane of the endoplasmic reticulum, and membranes of the
mitochondria, lysosomes, and Golgi apparatus.
The lipids of the membranes provide a barrier that impedes the movement of
water and water-soluble substances from one cell compartment to another
because water is not soluble in lipids.
However, protein molecules in the membrane often do penetrate all the way
through the membrane, thus providing specialized pathways, often organized into
actual pores, for passage of specific substances through the membrane
Cell Membrane
The cell membrane (also called the plasma membrane), which envelops the cell,
is a thin, pliable, elastic structure only 7.5 to 10 nanometers thick. It is composed
almost entirely of proteins and lipids. The approximate composition is proteins, 55
percent; phospholipids, 25 percent; cholesterol, 13 percent; other lipids, 4 percent;
and carbohydrates, 3 percent.
The cholesterol molecules in the membrane are also lipid in nature because their
steroid nucleus is highly fat soluble. These molecules, in a sense, are dissolved in
the bilayer of the membrane. They mainly help determine the degree of
permeability (or impermeability) of the bilayer to water-soluble constituents of body
fluids. Cholesterol controls much of the fluidity of the membrane as well.
 Integral and Peripheral Cell Membrane Proteins.

These are membrane proteins, most of which are glycoproteins. There are two types of cell
membrane proteins: integral proteins that protrude all the way through the membrane and peripheral
proteins that are attached only to one surface of the membrane and do not penetrate all the way
through.
Many of the integral proteins provide structural channels (or pores) through which water molecules
and water soluble substances, especially ions, can diffuse between the extracellular and intracellular
fluids.
These protein channels also have selective properties that allow preferential diffusion of some
substances over others.
Other integral proteins act as carrier proteins for transporting substances that otherwise could not
penetrate the lipid bilayer.
Sometimes these even transport substances in the direction opposite to their electrochemical
gradients for diffusion, which is called “active transport.” Still others act as enzymes
Integral membrane proteins can also serve as receptors for water-soluble chemicals, such as peptide
hormones, that do not easily penetrate the cell membrane. Interaction of cell membrane receptors
with specific ligands that bind to the receptor causes conformational changes in the receptor protein.

This, in turn, enzymatically activates the intracellular part of the protein or induces interactions
between the receptor and proteins in the cytoplasm that act as second messengers, thereby relaying
the signal from the extracellular part of the receptor to the interior of the cell. In this way, integral
proteins spanning the cell membrane provide a means of conveying information about the
environment to the cell interior.
 Membrane Carbohydrates—The Cell “Glycocalyx.”
The carbohydrate attached to the outer surface of the cell have several
important functions:

(1) Many of them have a negative electrical charge, which gives most
cells an overall negative surface charge that repels other negative
objects.

(2) The glycocalyx of some cells attaches to the glycocalyx of other cells,
thus attaching cells to one another.

(3) Many of the carbohydrates act as receptor substances for binding

hormones, such as insulin; when bound, this combination activates
attached internal proteins that, in turn, activate a cascade of intracellular
enzymes.

(4) Some carbohydrate enter into immune reactions

 Cytoplasm and Its Organelles
The cytoplasm is filled with both minute and large dispersed
particles and organelles. The clear fluid portion of the cytoplasm
in which the particles are dispersed is called cytosol;

this contains mainly dissolved proteins,electrolytes, and

glucose.

Dispersed in the cytoplasm are neutral fat globules,glycogen

granules, ribosomes, secretory vesicles, and five especially
important organelles: the endoplasmic reticulum, the Golgi
apparatus, mitochondria, lysosomes, and peroxisomes
Endoplasmic Reticulum
Attached to the outer surfaces of many parts of the endoplasmic reticulum
are large numbers of minute granular particles called ribosomes. Where
these are present, the reticulum is called the granular endoplasmic
reticulum. The ribosomes are composed of a mixture of RNA and proteins,
and they function to synthesize new protein molecules in the cell
Agranular Endoplasmic Reticulum -This Part of the endoplasmic
reticulum has no attached ribosomes. This part is called the agranular, or
smooth, endoplasmic reticulum. The agranular reticulum functions for the
synthesis of lipid substances and for other processes of the cells promoted
by intra articular enzymes.
Golgi Apparatus
The Golgi apparatus is closely related
to the endoplasmic reticulum. It has
membranes similar to those of the
agranular endoplasmic reticulum. It is
usually composed of four or more
stacked layers of thin, flat, enclosed
vesicles lying near one side of the
nucleus. This apparatus is prominent in
secretory cells, where it is located on
the side of the cell from which the
secretory substances are extruded.
The Golgi apparatus functions in association with the endoplasmic reticulum. small “transport vesicles” (also called
endoplasmic reticulum vesicles, or ER vesicles) continually pinch off from the endoplasmic reticulum and shortly
thereafter fuse with the Golgi apparatus. In this way, substances entrapped in the ER vesicles are transported from
the endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi apparatus.
 Lysosomes
are vesicular organelles that form by breaking off from the Golgi apparatus and
then dispersing throughout the cytoplasm.

The lysosomes provide an intracellular digestive system that allows the cell to
digest :

● (1) damaged cellular structures

● (2) food particles that have been ingested by the cell
● (3) unwanted matter such as bacteria.

It is surrounded by a typical lipid bilayer membrane and is filled with large numbers
of small granules 5 to 8 nanometers in diameter, which are protein aggregates of
as many as 40 different hydrolase (digestive) enzymes.

A hydrolytic enzyme is capable of splitting an organic compound into two or more

parts by combining hydrogen from a water molecule with one part of the
compound and combining the hydroxyl portion of the water molecule with the other
part of the compound.

For instance, protein is hydrolyzed to form amino acids, glycogen is hydrolyzed to

form glucose, and lipids are hydrolyzed to form fatty acids and glycerol.
 Peroxisomes
Peroxisomes are similar physically to lysosomes, but they are
different in two important ways.

First, they are believed to be formed by self-replication (or

perhaps by budding off from the smooth endoplasmic reticulum)
rather than from the Golgi apparatus.

Second, they contain oxidases rather than hydrolases.

Several of the oxidases are capable of combining oxygen with

hydrogen ions derived from different intracellular chemicals to
form hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ).

Hydrogen peroxide is a highly oxidizing substance and is used

in association with catalase, another oxidase enzyme present in
large quantities in peroxisomes, to oxidize many substances that
might otherwise be poisonous to the cell. For instance, about
half the alcohol a person drinks is detoxified by the peroxisomes
of the liver cells in this manner.
 Secretory Vesicles
One of the important functions of many cells is
secretion of special chemical substances.
Almost all such secretory substances are formed by
the endoplasmic reticulum– Golgi apparatus system
and are then released from the Golgi apparatus into
the cytoplasm in the form of storage vesicles called
secretory vesicles or secretory granules.
these vesicles store protein proenzymes (enzymes
that are not yet activated).
The proenzymes are secreted later through the outer
cell membrane into the pancreatic duct and thence
into the duodenum, where they become activated and
perform digestive functions on the food in the
intestinal tract.
Mitochondria
are called the “powerhouses” of the cell. Without them, cells would be unable to
extract enough energy from the nutrients, and essentially all cellular functions
would cease
Mitochondria
are present in all areas of each cell’s cytoplasm, but the total number per cell
varies from less than a hundred up to several thousand, depending on the amount
of energy required by the cell. Further, the mitochondria are concentrated in those
portions of the cell that are responsible for the major share of its energy
metabolism. They are also variable in size and shape. Some are only a few
hundred nanometers in diameter and globular in shape, whereas others are
elongated—as large as 1 micrometer in diameter and 7 micrometers long; still
others are branching and filamentous.
Mitochondria
is composed mainly of two lipid bilayer– protein membranes:

an outer membrane and an inner membrane.

Many infoldings of the inner membrane form shelves onto which oxidative enzymes are attached.

In addition, the inner cavity of the mitochondrion is filled with a matrix that contains large quantities of
dissolved enzymes that are necessary for extracting energy from nutrients.

These enzymes operate in association with the oxidative enzymes on the shelves to cause oxidation of the
nutrients, thereby forming carbon dioxide and water and at the same time releasing energy.

The liberated energy is used to synthesize a “high-energy” substance called adenosine triphosphate
(ATP).

ATP is then transported out of the mitochondrion, and it diffuses throughout the cell to release its own
energy wherever it is needed for performing cellular functions.
Mitochondria are self-replicative, which means that one mitochondrion can form a
second one, a third one, and so on, whenever there is a need in the cell for
increased amounts of ATP. Indeed, the mitochondria contain DNA similar to that
found in the cell nucleus.
Cell Cytoskeleton—Filament and Tubular Structures
The fibrillar proteins of the cell are usually
organized into filaments or tubules.
A special type of stiff filament composed of
polymerized tubulin molecules is used in all cells to
construct strong tubular structures, the
microtubules.

Figure 2-8 shows typical microtubules that were

teased from the flagellum of a sperm.
Nucleus
The nucleus is the control center of the cell.

Briefly, the nucleus contains large quantities of DNA,

which are the genes.

The genes determine the characteristics of the cell’s

proteins, including the structural proteins, as well as
the intracellular enzymes that control cytoplasmic and
nuclear activities.

The genes also control and promote reproduction of

the cell itself.

The genes first reproduce to give two identical sets of

genes; then the cell splits by a special process called
mitosis to form two daughter cells, each of which
receives one of the two sets of DNA genes.
Nuclear Membrane

The nuclear membrane, also called the nuclear envelope, is actually two separate
bilayer membranes, one inside the other.
The outer membrane is continuous with the endoplasmic reticulum of the cell cytoplasm,
and the space between the two nuclear membranes is also continuous with the space
inside the endoplasmic reticulum.
The nuclear membrane is penetrated by several thousand nuclear pores.
Large complexes of protein molecules are attached at the edges of the pores so that the
central area of each pore is only about 9 nanometers in diameter.
Even this size is large enough to allow molecules up to 44,000 molecular weight to pass
through with reasonable ease.
 Nucleoli and Formation of Ribosomes
The nuclei of most cells contain one or more highly staining structures called
nucleoli.
The nucleolus, unlike most other organelles discussed here, does not have a
limiting membrane. Instead, it is simply an accumulation of large amounts of RNA
and proteins of the types found in ribosomes. The nucleolus becomes
considerably enlarged when the cell is actively synthesizing proteins.
Formation of the nucleoli (and of the ribosomes in the cytoplasm outside the
nucleus) begins in the nucleus. First, specific DNA genes in the chromosomes
cause RNA to be synthesized. Some of this is stored in the nucleoli, but most of it is
transported outward through the nuclear pores into cytoplasm.
Here, it is used in conjunction with specific proteins to assemble “mature”
ribosomes that play an essential role in forming cytoplasmic proteins
Ingestion by the Cell—Endocytosis
Very large particles enter the cell by a
specialized function of the cell membrane
called endocytosis.
The principal forms of endocytosis are
pinocytosis and phagocytosis.
Pinocytosis means ingestion of minute
particles that form vesicles of extracellular fluid
and particulate constituents inside the cell
cytoplasm.
Phagocytosis means ingestion of large
particles, such as bacteria, whole cells, or
portions of degenerating tissue.
Pinocytosis
Pinocytosis occurs continually in the cell membranes of most cells, but
it is especially rapid in some cells.

For instance, it occurs so rapidly in macrophages that about 3 percent

of the total macrophage membrane is engulfed in the form of vesicles
each minute.

Pinocytosis (“pino” means “to drink”) is a process by which the cell

takes in the fluids along with dissolved small molecules.

In this process, the cell membrane folds and creates small pockets and
captures the cellular fluid and dissolved substances.

In fact, the rate at which pinocytotic vesicles form is usually enhanced

when such macromolecules attach to the cell membrane.
Figure demonstrates the successive steps of pinocytosis, showing three molecules of protein attaching to the
membrane.

These molecules usually attach to specialized protein receptors on the surface of the membrane that are specific for
the type of protein that is to be absorbed.

The receptors generally are concentrated in small pits on the outer surface of the cell membrane, called coated pits.

On the inside of the cell membrane beneath these pits is a latticework of fibrillar protein called clathrin, as well as
other proteins, perhaps including contractile filaments of actin and myosin.

Once the protein molecules have bound with the receptors, the surface properties of the local membrane change in
such a way that the entire pit invaginates inward and the fibrillar proteins surrounding the invaginating pit cause its
borders to close over the attached proteins, as well as over a small amount of extracellular fluid.

Immediately thereafter, the invaginated portion of the membrane breaks away from the surface of the cell, forming a
pinocytotic vesicle inside the cytoplasm of the cell.
 Phagocytosis
Phagocytosis occurs in much the same way as pinocytosis, except that it involves large particles rather
than molecules. Only certain cells have the capability of phagocytosis, most notably the tissue macrophages
and some of the white blood cells.

Phagocytosis occurs in the following steps:

1. The cell membrane receptors attach to the surface ligands of the particle.

2. The edges of the membrane around the points of attachment evaginate outward within a fraction of a
second to surround the entire particle; then, progressively more and more membrane receptors attach to the
particle ligands. All this occurs suddenly in a zipper-like manner to form a closed phagocytic vesicle.

3. Actin and other contractile fibrils in the cytoplasm surround the phagocytic vesicle and contract around its
outer edge, pushing the vesicle to the interior.

4. The contractile proteins then pinch the stem of the vesicle so completely that the vesicle separates from
the cell membrane, leaving the vesicle in the cell interior in the same way that pinocytotic vesicles are
formed.
Thank You !