Cell Membrane Permeability Lab

If the solution in the left beaker contained both urea and albumin, which membrane(s) could you choose to selectively remove the urea from the solution in the left beaker? How would you carry out this experiment?

The cell membranes are the utmost essential organelle that surrounds all living cells. Its purpose is to control what goes in and out of the cells and is accountable for the various other properties of the cells as well. The nucleus and other organelles also have membranes that are practically indistinguishable. Membranes are organised in a mosaic arrangement, comprised of carbohydrates, proteins and phospholipids. This can be seen in Figure 1. The objective of this indirect examination is to study the causes of various solvents and conducts on live beetroot cells. The reason why beetroot cells have been selected for this experiment is because they have a big membrane-bound central vacuole, as seen in Figure 2. The red colour anthocyanin, which provides the beetroot its bright colour is located in the vacuole. The cell membrane encloses the whole beetroot cell. The anthocyanin cannot leak out if the membranes stay unharmed. The red colour can escape if the membranes are hassled or broken.

Aim: The aim of the experiment is to test the effect temperature has on the activity of the enzyme rennin.

The purpose of these experiments is to examine the driving force behind the movement of substances across a selective or semiperpeable plasma membrane. Experiment simulations examine substances that move passively through a semipermeable membrane, and those that require active transport. Those that move passively through the membrane will do so in these simulations by facilitated diffusion and filtration. The plasma membrane’s structure is composed in such a way that it can discriminate as to which substances can pass into the cell. This enables nutrients to enter the cell, while keeping unwanted substances out. Active

The Osmosis and Diffusion lab was conducted to provide us with information on how built up mucus affects those conflicted by the recessive genetic disease, Cystic Fibrosis., due to a mutation to the membrane regulating chloride (Cl-). This mutation prevents the Cl- from leaving the cell causing the amount of sodium (Na+) in epithelial cells, which results in extreme mucus on the lungs and airways causing this disease to be fatal if not treated but treatment does not equate to a long lifetime. During the lab we took the data from three parts: Diffusion, Osmosis in an Elodea Cell, and finally the Role of Osmosis in Cystic Fibrosis. During Part 1 we looked at diffusion across a semipermeable membrane for starch and glucose, which resulted in both having a negative solution when placed in a semipermeable membrane. Then we looked at osmosis in the Elodea Cell to watch for the occurrence of Plasmolysis, when a cell’s plasma membrane pulls away from the cell, and how a plant cell is affected by both hypertonic and hypotonic solutions. Finally, we observed the role of Osmosis in Cystic Fibrosis using dialysis bags to represent a normal cell and a Cystic Fibrosis cell with the normal containing 1% NaCl while the Cystic Fibrosis bag contained 10% NaCl. After we ran the experiment, we looked at the Percent Change in Mass and compared them after 30 minutes. We found that Cystic Fibrosis cells didn’t change mass as much as the normal cell ending with a change in mass over -1%. The

The cell membrane (Plasma membrane) functions to provide cell support, cell stability and control entry and exit of materials from the cell. This study was conducted to test the effects of environmental conditions such as the on beet root cell membrane (Beta vulgaris). Five trials using varied pH concentrations were tested and absorbance rates were monitored. The experimental results showed that the protein function decreased sequentially when the pH decreased. This allowed the betacyanin dye to leak out which created the color that was needed to determine the intensity and therefore the effect of the circumstances. This supported the hypothesis that the more acidic or basic the environmental condition around the beet cell, the more permeable the, membrane indicated by color intensity. Pigment leakage in the solution was analyzed by using a spectrophotometer.

For this experiment we were instructed to conduct our own procedure with whichever combination of treatment we thought best would yield the greatest amount of absorbance of betacyanin. My lab partners and I chose to do treatments with ethanol a mild organic solvent, 1% triton a mild detergent solution , and a combination of ethanol and triton.

Freeman (2008) furthers Eckert et al’s argument by stating that the actin filaments of the muscle cell in organisms are able to intake ATP (adenosine triphosphate) faster and will move the organism faster when higher temperatures are imposed. This is because of an increase in enzyme reaction rates (Freeman 2008). These arguments can be applied to our experiment to help explain the trends observed. It can be argued that as the Gammarus setosus experiences the cold treatments, the organ of Bellonci senses the cold temperature, which in turn signals the organism to preserve its energy to protect itself; therefore, the organism will swim slower. In addition, the enzymes in the muscle cells of the organism, when experiencing the cold treatments, will have decreased ability to carry out enzymatic reactions, therefore inhibiting the uptake of ATP, which will cause the organism to swim slowly. Conversely, as the organisms are put into the heated treatments, the organ of Bellonci senses the heat, and allows the organism to swim faster, since it does not have allocate as much of its energy towards survival. Furthermore, the enzymes in the cells will be able to catalyze reactions more quickly, therefore allowing the organism to swim faster. However, when the temperature of the surroundings is too high, the enzymes will denature, therefore, reducing the activity rate of

The Effect of Temperature on the Permeability of Beetroot Membrane Analysis The graph shows the colorimeter readings increase as the temperature increases, they increase by the most at higher temperatures. This is shown by a smooth curve. This means that the beetroot samples release more dye at higher temperatures.

What happens to the urea concentration in the left beaker (the patient)? It mixes with the water to balance out the structure.

The lipids found in the membrane are known as phospholipids. Phospholipids are fat derivatives in which one fatty acid has been replaced by a phosphate group and one of several nitrogen-containing molecules. The phospholipids’ structure is such that it appears to have a ‘head’ attached to a ‘tail’. The head section of the lipid is made of a glycerol group which is then attached to an ionised

There is a small increase in the spectrophotometer reading between the temperatures 0C-23C. This is because the membrane structure becomes more rigid and less red pigments leak out of the membrane.

Every cell transports materials in and out throught something called a membrane. There are many different methods of transport in the cell Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Serrano, 1977) We want to know does adding higher concentrations of azide more effectively block dye transport? We tested the transport of dye in yeast cells with a metabolic inhibitor. When we did this we showed no difference in the absorbance between different azide solutions, and our control. From this we concluded that azide has no effect on the transport through a yeast cell membrane.

The principal objective of this study was to determine how temperature affects the activity of

The aim of this investigation was to determine the effect of ethanol on the membrane permeability using Beta vulgaris. Beta vulgaris contains red pigments called betalain sequestered in vacuoles. The cell membrane is generally impermeable to betalain as this pigment is relatively large and cannot pass through the membrane by diffusion. (123HelpMe.com, 2015) However, by increasing the permeability of the cell membrane, betalain can leach out of the cell and colour the liquid red. The colour intensity of the solution due to leakage of betalain is proportional to the membrane permeability. To quantify the colour intensity, the light absorbance of the solutions containing a Beta vulgaris cube were measured by a spectrophotometer. These measurements were used to analyse the membrane permeability. (Flinders University, 2015)