Cell 3
Cell 3
Cell 3
PHYSIOLOGY
Associate Professor
DR IMRAN AFTAB
Lysosomes
• Lyso; dissolving and somes; bodies. They are formed from golgi
complex.
• ~ 60 digestive & hydrolytic enzymes.
• pH 5, lysosomal membrane has active transport pumps that
import H+ ions.
• Digest substances that enter a cell via endocytosis and transport
final products of digestion into cytosol.
• Carry out autophagy, the digestion of worn-out organelles.
• Carry out autolysis, the digestion of entire cell.
• Carry out extracellular digestion.
Lysosomes
Clinical Connection: LYSOSOMAL STORAGE
DISEASES
•Some disorders are caused by faulty or absent lysosomal enzymes.
•Tay-Sachs disease, most often affects children of eastern European
Jewish descent, is an inherited condition characterized by the
absence of a single lysosomal enzyme called Hex A.
•This enzyme normally breaks down a membrane glycolipid called
ganglioside GM2 that is especially prevalent in nerve cells.
• As the excess ganglioside GM2 accumulates, the nerve cells
function less efficiently.
•Children with Tay-Sachs disease typically experience seizures and
muscle rigidity.
•They gradually become blind, demented, uncoordinated and usually
die before the age of 5.
Peroxisomes
• Peroxi; peroxide and somes; bodies are small bodies or
microbodies.
•Contain several oxidases, that can oxidize (remove hydrogen
atoms from) various organic substances e.g. amino acids and fatty
acids are oxidized in peroxisomes as part of normal metabolism.
•Oxidize toxic substances, such as alcohol (abundant in the liver).
•Byproduct of the oxidation reactions is H2O2, a potentially toxic
compound. enzyme catalase, which decomposes H2O2.
Non-membrane bound organelles
• Ribosomes
• Cytoskeleton
• Centrosome
Ribosomes
•Somes; bodies.
•High content of one type
of nucleic acid; ribosomal
•RNA (rRNA).
•Structurally; 2 subunits
and synthesized in nucleus
and assembled in
cytoplasm.
•Synthesis of protein.
Cytoskeleton
• Microfilaments
• Intermediate filaments
• Microtubules
Microfilament
• Thinnest elements of the cytoskeleton.
• They are composed of the protein actin and are
prevalent at the edges of the cell.
• They help generate movement (muscle contraction,
cell division and cell locomotion) and provide
mechanical support (basic strength and
shapes of cells).
Intermediate filaments
••These are thicker than microfilaments but thinner than
microtubules.
•• Several different proteins can compose intermediate filaments,
which are exceptionally strong.
•They are found in parts of cells subject to mechanical stress, help
stabilize the position of organelles such as the nucleus and help
attach cells to one another
Microtubules
•• These are the largest of the cytoskeletal components and are
long, un-branched hollow tubes composed mainly of the protein
tubulin.
•Assembly of microtubules begins in an organelle called the
centrosome.
•The microtubules grow outward from the centrosome toward
the periphery of the cell.
•Help determining cell shape.
•They also function in the movement of organelles such as
secretory vesicles, of chromosomes during cell division and of
specialized cell projections, such as cilia and flagella.
Cilia & Flagella
• Cilia: (eyelashes) are numerous, short, hair-like
projections that extend from the surface of the cell.
• Flagella: (whip) is long and moves entire cell.
• Each cilium contains a core of 20 microtubules surrounded by
plasma membrane.
• The microtubules are arranged such that one pair in the center
is surrounded by nine clusters of two fused microtubules
(doublets).
• Each cilium is anchored to a basal body just below the surface
of the plasma membrane.
Centrosome
•Located near the nucleus & consists of two components: a pair
of centrioles and peri-centriolar material.
•Two centrioles are cylindrical structures, each composed of
nine clusters of three microtubules arranged in a circular pattern.
•The long axis of one centriole is at a right angle to the long axis
of the other.
•Surrounding the centrioles is peri-centriolar material which
contains hundreds of ring-shaped complexes composed of the
protein tubulin.
•These tubulin complexes are the organizing centers for growth
of the mitotic spindle, which plays a critical role in cell division
and for microtubule formation in non-dividing cells.
CELL
PHYSIOLOGY
DR IMRAN AFTAB
Types of Cell Junctions
Contact points between the plasma membrane of tissue
cells.
Tight Junctions
Desmosomes
Gap Junctions
Hemi-desmosomes
Adherence
Tight Junctions
Transmembrane Proteins of opposite cells attach in a
tight zipper-like fashion
No leakage
E.g. stomach, intestine, kidneys, epithelium of skin to
retard the passage of substances
between cells and prevent the
contents of these organs from leaking
into the blood or surrounding tissues.
Tight Junctions
Adherens Junctions
contain plaque, a dense layer of proteins on the inside of the
plasma membrane that attaches both to membrane proteins and
microfilaments of the cytoskeleton. Transmembrane
glycoproteins called cadherins join the cells. Each cadherin
inserts into the plaque from the opposite side of the plasma
membrane, partially crosses the intercellular space (the space
between the cells) and connects to cadherins of an adjacent
cell.
In epithelial cells, adherens junctions often form adhesion
belts because they encircle the cell similar to the way a belt
encircles your waist.
Adherens junctions help epithelial surfaces resist separation
during various contractile activities, as when food moves
through the intestines.
Desmosomes (desmo;bands)
Cytoplasmic plaques of two cells bind with the aid of
intermediate filaments of keratin
Allows for stretching
E.g. Stomach, Bladder, Heart
Hemidesmosomes
Resemble desmosomes but they do not link adjacent
cells. The name arises from the fact that they look like half
of a desmosome.
The transmembrane glycoproteins in hemidesmosomes
are integrins rather than cadherins.
On the inside of the plasma membrane, integrins
attach to intermediate filaments made of the protein
keratin.
On the outside of the plasma membrane, the integrins
attach to the protein laminin, which is present in the
basement membrane.
Thus, hemidesmosomes anchor cells not to each other
but to the basement membrane.
Gap
Junctions
Channel proteins (connexons) of
opposite cells join together providing
channels for ions, sugars, amino acids,
and other small molecules to pass.
Allows communication between cells.
concentration)
Toward the solution containing the higher solute
concentration.
Continues until water concentrations and solute
concentrations are the same on either side of the
membrane
Two ways: (1) by moving through the lipid bilayer via
Cytoplasm
2
Phosphorylation causes the
protein to change its shape.
Concentration gradients of
K+ and Na+
3
5
The shape change expels Na+ to the
Loss of phosphate restores the
outside, and extracellular K+ binds.
original conformation of the pump
protein. 4
Pinocytosis
Phagocytosis
Receptor Mediated Endocytosis
A selective process, take up specific ligands.
Involves formation of vesicles at surface of membrane
Vesicles contain receptors on their membrane
Vesicles contain specific target molecule in high
concentration.
cells take up cholesterol containing low-density
lipoproteins (LDLs), transferrin (an iron-transporting
protein in the blood), some vitamins, antibodies and
certain hormones by receptor-mediated endocytosis.
Clathrin-coated vesicle in
cytoplasm