GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY WITH FAMILY PLANNING

• Unit of measure: micrometer (um)

The Cell: Basic Unit of Structure and Function o RBC: 7-8um

PARTS OF CELL

• Cell Membrane (or plasma membrane)

• Cytoplasm
o Cytosol
o Organelles
▪ Membranous Organelles
▪ Non-membranous Organelles
o Inclusions

• Nucleus
THE CELLS
PLASMA MEMBRANE
• Structural and functional units of all living
• Also known as PLASMALEMMA/ CELL
organisms.
MEMBRANE.
• building blocks of the human body.
• the outer, limiting barrier
• adult human body contains ~ 75 trillion cells.
• separates the internal contents of the cell from
• Each cell type performs specific functions. external materials.
• 200 cell types in humans

COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF CELLS

Perform the general functions necessary to sustain life:

• Obtain nutrients and other materials from its

surrounding fluids.
o Fuel molecules, O2, building blocks,
minerals, etc

• Dispose of wastes products

o Urea (from nitrogen), CO2, metabolic
waste A. fragile transparent barrier that contains the cell
contents and separates them from the
• Maintain shape and integrity
surrounding environment
o Size and shape are related to function
B. has a core of two lipid layers in which protein
• Cell division: molecules float
o Mitosis: growth and repair C. The bilipid layer acts as a selective barrier and
o Meiosis: gamete formation is relatively impermeable to most water-soluble
molecules
STUDY OF CELLS
D. the proteins scattered in the lipid bilayer are
• Cytology: study of cells responsible for most of the functions of the
• Microscopic anatomy membrane (eg. Transport, enzymes, receptor
o Individual cells are observable by light functions)
microscopy.
Plasma membrane: composition
o Subcellular structures observable by
electron microscopy.

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• Lipids • ATP is not required

o Phospholipids
• Types:
▪ Head: hydrophilic
o Simple Diffusion: solutes
▪ Tail: hydrophobic
o Facilitated Diffusion: solutes
▪ Form lipid bilayer
o Bulk Filtration: solution
o Cholesterol o Osmosis: solvent
o Glycolipids FACILITATED DIFFUSION
▪ Carbohydrate component
▪ Part of glycocalyx • Requires the participation of specific transport
proteins that help specific substances or
• Protein molecules move across the plasma membrane.
o Integral membrane proteins
• “Carrier-mediated”
o Peripheral membrane proteins
o Some serve as enzymes, ion channels BULK FILTRATION
or receptors
• Involves the diffusion of both solvents and
o Glycoproteins solutes together across the selectively
permeable membrane.

• Pressure gradients

OSMOSIS

• Involves the diffusion of a solvent (H2O),

across a selectively permeable membrane.

• Can cause a volume change

ACTIVE TRANSPORT

• Movement of a substance across a plasma

membrane against a concentration gradient.
Plasma membrane: functions
• Materials must be moved from an area of low
• Selectively permeable barrier concentration to an area of high concentration.
o Nutrient in
o Waste out • requires cellular energy in the form of ATP
(adenosine triphosphate)
• Communication
• uses transport proteins (carrier-mediated)
• Intercellular connections
• ATP is continually synthesized by mitochondria
• Physical barrier
ION PUMPS
TRANSPORT MECHANISM
• Active transport processes that move ions
• Passive Transport across the membrane are called ion pumps.
• Active Transport
• Bulk Transport • ion pumps allow a cell to maintain its internal
• Solution= solvent (H2O)+ solute concentrations of small molecules or ions

BULK TRANSPORT - EXOCYTOSIS

PASSIVE TRANSPORT
• Used by cells that secrete
• Movement of substances along a concentration
• Usually movement of large molecules
gradient (from HIGH to Low)
• Movement out of the cell.
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CYTOPLASM

• general term for all cellular contents located

between the plasma membrane and the nucleus.

• the cellular material outside the nucleus and

inside the plasma membrane.

• site of most cellular activities

COMPONENTS OF CYTOPLASM
1. Cytosol
2. Organelles
BULK TRANSPORT - ENDOCYTOSIS 3. Inclusion
process by which the cell acquires materials from the CYTOSOL
extracellular fluid: (3 Forms)
• Matrix; intracellular material
• Phagocytosis:
o Cell forms pseudopodia • Different in different cell
o engulfs a particle
o internalize it into a vacuole • Mostly water

• semitransparent fluid that suspends the other

• Pinocytosis: components. Made up of water, salts, organic
o incorporation of droplets of molecules and many enzymes that catalyze
extracellular fluid (solution) reactions.
o Taken into the cell in small vesicles
ORGANELLES
• Receptor-mediated endocytosis:
• Complex, organized structures
o receptors in the cell membrane
o Bind with specific molecules • Have unique, characteristic shapes.
o Invagination forms around them to
• Each type performs a different function for the
create a cytoplasmic vesicle
cell.

• Are essential for normal cellular structure and

activities.

• the metabolic machinery of the cell.

• Organized to carry out a specific function for

the cell as a whole.

MEMBRANOUS ORGANELLES
➢ ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM
• a system of fluid-filled cisterns
(tubules) that coil and twist through the
cytoplasm

• provides channels for carrying

substances from one part to another.

2 FORMS OF THE ENDOPLASMIC

RETICULUM

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1. Rough endoplasmic reticulum ➢ GOLGI APPARATUS

- membranes studded with ribosomes - stacks of flattened membranous sacs, associated
- sites of protein synthesis with tiny vesicle
❖ Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum (RER) - The principal function is to package and modify
• Attached Ribosome proteins
• Make protein for export
◼ Modifies, stores and sorts of material
• Peroxisomes made here
from RER
◼ Receiving region (cis face)
2. Smooth endoplasmic reticulum
◼ Shipping region (trans face)
- Plays a role in lipid synthesis and
detoxification of drugs - Produces Lysosomes
❖ Smooth Endoplamic Reticulum (SER) - breakdown bodies containing powerful
• Lipids and carbohydrates digestive enzymes necessary to clear the cell
• Detoxification with worn-out structures and non usable
cellular structures.

• Autophagy: removal of old organelles.

• Autolysis: destruction of the cell

➢ PEROXISOMES
- membranous sacs containing oxidase enzymes
that uses molecular oxygen to detoxify harmful
substances (alcohol, free radicals)
◼ Vesicles formed from RER
◼ Use oxygen to detoxify
◼ Mediated by specific enzymes
◼ Most abundant in liver

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➢ MITOCHONDRIA
- Mitochondria are organelles with a double
membrane.
- Produce large amounts of ATP.
- Are called the “powerhouses” of the cell.
- tiny threadlike or sausage-shaped organelles
- contains oxidative enzymes necessary to
convert nutrients into energy

❖ CYTOSKELETON

• Made of filamentous proteins

• Helps give the cell its shape

• Coordinates cellular movements.

Three categories:
NON-MEMBRANOUS ORGANELLES o microfilaments
o intermediate filaments
• Not made of a membrane. o microtubules

• Usually made of protein

• Include:
o Ribosomes: free and fixed/Attached
o Cytoskeleton
◼ Microfilaments
◼ Intermediate fibers
◼ Microtubules
o Centrosome
◼ Centrioles

❖ RIBOSOMES

• Small, dense granules

◼ Protein
◼ RNA

• Site of protein synthesis.

• Each ribosome has a small and a large subunit.
◼ small subunit is about one-half the size
of the large subunit.

• tiny, round, dark bodies made of proteins and

ribosomal ribonucleic acid
❖ CENTROSOME
• maybe present as free floating bodies or are • Area close to the nucleus
found attached to membranes forming the
rough endoplasmic reticulum. • Organization site for microtubules

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❖ CENTRIOLES (exist as a pair) INCLUSIONS

• In the centrosome • Metabolically inert accumulations of cell

products
• Perpendicular to each other
• dispensable and often temporary constituents of
• 9 sets of microtubule triplets
the cell (lipid, pigments, crystals)
• Important in cell division (spindle)
➢ NUCLEUS
• “control center” of the cell
• controls protein synthesis
– directs the functional and structural
characteristics of the cell.
• stores genes which serves as the carrier of
hereditary traits for an individual the genetic
material deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA),
contains all the information needed for building
the whole body.
• Control center of cellular activities.
• Usually, it is the largest structure within the cell
• Appears as a single spherical or oval structure.

Appendages extending from the surface of some cells.

❖ MICROVILLI:
• short, cytoplasmic extensions
• Enclosed by a double membrane called the
• For absorption
nuclear envelope.

❖ CILIA: • The nuclear envelope:

• usually occur in large numbers o controls the entry and exit of materials
• work together to move materials or fluids along between the nucleus and the cytoplasm.
the surface of a cell.

❖ FLAGELLA:
• longer than cilia and usually occur as single
appendages.
• Move the cell

➢ NUCLEOLUS
• The cell nucleus may contain one or more
nucleoli.

• Nucleoli:
o are responsible for making the small
and the large subunits of ribosomes.

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CHROMATIN AND DNA STAGES OF MITOSIS

• DNA is the genetic material housed within the ➢ Prophase – the first and longest stage of
nucleus. mitosis.
• DNA is a polymer of nucleotides (sugar, • Early prophase – chromatin threads condense
phosphate, nitrogen base) into chromosomes
• Is a double helix.
o Chromosomes are made up of two
• Chromatin: threads called chromatids
o Strands of DNA and histone proteins o Chromatids are held together by the
▪ Euchromatin: uncoiled; active centromere
▪ Heterochromatin: coiled. o Centriole pairs separate from one
inactive another
o The mitotic spindle forms

• Late prophase – centrioles continue moving

away from each other.
o Nuclear membrane fragments

THE CELL CYCLE

➢ Metaphase – the second stage of mitosis

o Chromosomes cluster at the middle of
the cell
o Centromeres are aligned along the
equator

➢ Anaphase – the third and shortest stage of

mitosis
• There are two types of cell division. o Centromeres of chromosomes split
• Mitosis: is the cell division process that takes
place in somatic cells.

• Meiosis: is the cell division process that takes

place in gonads to produce gametes.

MITOSIS
• Interphase
• Prophase
• Metaphase ➢ Telophase – begins as chromosomal movement
• Anaphase stops
• Telophase
• Cytokinesis
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o Chromosomes at opposite poles of the

cell uncoil
o Resume their thread-like extended-
chromatin form
o A new nuclear membrane form

➢ Cytokinesis – completes the division of the cell

into two daughter cells

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