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Some substances, including sodium and potassium, use a process called active transport to permeate cell walls. Active transport is controlled by other body systems. It limits the quantity of these substances passing through the plasma membrane to match the needs of the body.

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What concentration gradients are established and maintained by the sodium-potassium exchange pump?

The sodium-potassium pump establishes and maintains concentration gradients of sodium and potassium ions across the cell membrane. It actively pumps sodium out of the cell and potassium into the cell, creating a higher concentration of sodium outside the cell and a higher concentration of potassium inside the cell. This helps maintain the cell's resting membrane potential and is essential for various cellular functions.


Does Potassium ions move across the same gradient as sodium ions?

No, potassium ions move against their concentration gradient during resting membrane potential due to the activity of the sodium-potassium pump. It actively pumps potassium into the cell and sodium out of the cell to maintain the resting membrane potential. Sodium ions, on the other hand, move down their concentration gradient during the resting state.


What happens when you open the sodium channels in the membrane of a neuron?

When this occurs, the membranes potenial drops, as potassium and sodium diffuse with their gradient.


Why Sodium and potassium ion can only cross in axon membrane through protein channel explain why?

At rest sodium in the outside and potassium on the inside as action potential propagate along the axon, depolirization happens and sodium channel opens and allow sodium ions to flood into the neurone. A wave of deporization spread along the neuron, the neuron membrane contain specialised protein called channels. the channel from pore.


Can sodium still enter a membrane if ATP is not present to activate the sodium potassium pump?

Yes, sodium can still passively diffuse into the cell through leak channels even if the sodium-potassium pump is not active. The sodium-potassium pump primarily works to maintain the concentration gradient of sodium ions by actively transporting them out of the cell, but without ATP, this process would eventually fail.

Related Questions

Which ions are permeable to phospholipids that make up the plasma membrane?

Small, uncharged molecules like oxygen and carbon dioxide are permeable to phospholipids in the plasma membrane, while ions such as sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), and chloride (Cl-) are not permeable due to their charge.


Why is The plasma membrane is much more permeable to K than to Na?

Even when both those atoms are encapsulated with water, potassium is smaller than sodium.


What ions are most permeable in neuron plasma membranes?

Neuron plasma membranes are most permeable to potassium ions (K+) due to the presence of leak potassium channels. This allows for the resting membrane potential to be closer to the equilibrium potential for potassium. Sodium ions (Na+) and chloride ions (Cl-) also play roles in membrane potential, but potassium ions have the highest permeability.


When a nerve is activated by a threshold stimulus the membrane becomes more permeable to?

Potassium and Sodium


What are three materials that move through a cell membrane?

Sodium, potassium and calcium are the three things that move through the plasma membrane. There are many other molecules and ions that do move through cell membrane. Plasma membrane have a selective permeable property.


What type of channel does sodium and potassium use to diffuse across the plasma membrane of all cells?

Sodium and potassium diffuse across the plasma membrane of cells through ion channels called voltage-gated channels. These channels open and close in response to changes in membrane potential, allowing sodium and potassium ions to flow down their electrochemical gradients.


Are Excitable cells like neurons are more permeable to sodium than to potassium?

Yes, excitable cells like neurons are more permeable to sodium ions than potassium ions. This selective permeability is due to the presence of more sodium channels compared to potassium channels in the cell membrane, allowing sodium to flow into the cell more readily during an action potential.


What substance not permeable at the cell membrane?

Large polar molecules like glucose and ions such as sodium and potassium are not permeable through the cell membrane. These molecules require specific transport proteins or channels to facilitate their movement across the membrane.


Does a sodium-potassium pump require an integral protein?

Yes, because integral proteins extend all the way though the cellular membrane which is necessary because potassium has to be brought from the outside of the cell to the inside and the sodium has to be brought from the inside of the cell to the outside.


Through the membrane of a resting neuron highly permeable to potassium ions its membrane potential does not exactly match the equilibrium potential for potassium because the neuronal membrane is?

The neuronal membrane also has ion channels for other ions besides potassium, such as sodium or chloride, that can influence the resting membrane potential. These other ions contribute to the overall equilibrium potential of the neuron, which affects its resting membrane potential. Additionally, the activity of Na+/K+ pumps helps establish and maintain the resting membrane potential, contributing to the slight difference from the potassium equilibrium potential.


When is a neurolemma more permeable to potassium than sodium?

The neurolemma is more permeable to potassium than sodium during the resting state of a neuron, known as the resting membrane potential. This is due to the presence of leak potassium channels that allow potassium ions to move more freely across the neurolemma, contributing to the negative charge inside the neuron.


What regulates which substances enter and leave a cell?

The plasma membrane. Carrier proteins and ion channels are parts of the plasma membrane, and aid in diffusion across concentration gradients, as most things don't freely move from one end of the cell membrane to the other. The Sodium-Potassium pump is a major ion channel in the plasma membrane, and regulates the intake of potassium and export of sodium (3 molecules sodium out, 2 molecules potassium in.)