Help please! From chapter review and I am so confused with this question :/
20. A culture of living cells (A) is placed in a solution of high concentration of sodium ions. A second culture of living cells (B) is exposed to temperatures high enough to denature the proteins in their membranes and then placed in the concentration sodium ion solution.
a. predict the relative concentration of sodium ions in their internal cellular environments of both cultures.
Hey Yeshelly,
So for A: If there is a higher concentration of sodium ions outside the cell (extracellular fluid), then when compared to the cell contents, the solution is said to be hypertonic.
Therefore, sodium ions will move down its concentration gradient into the cell via facilitated diffusion, till the point of equilibrium is reached (between intracellular and extracellular environment)
Short answer: It is predicted that there is an equal concentration of sodium ions in the internal cellular environment and external cellular environment.
For B: High temperatures = enzymes which are proteins and other proteins are denatured. (meaning that they change shape and no longer functional). First we recognise that the plasma membrane is made of proteins and a phospholipid bi-layer. Therefore, if the proteins involved in transport such as the channel or carrier proteins are denatured, the plasma membrane is no longer an effective semi-permeable barrier. Thus, water in the cell will flow out via osmosis (high--->low conc. of water molecules or low-->high conc. of solutes)
I believe in both solutions the cells will end with equal concentrations of sodium ions,
but someone please check.Thinking about it, just about made me as confused.