Transcellular transport involves the transportation of

solutes In chemistry, a solution is a special type of homogeneous mixture composed of two or more substances. In such a mixture, a solute is a substance dissolved in another substance, known as a solvent. If the attractive forces between the solvent ...

by a

cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life Cell may also refer to: Locations * Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery ...

''through'' a cell. Transcellular transport can occur in three different ways active transport, passive transport, and transcytosis.

Active Transport

Main article:

Active transport In cellular biology, ''active transport'' is the movement of molecules or ions across a cell membrane from a region of lower concentration to a region of higher concentration—against the concentration gradient. Active transport requires cellul ...

Active transport is the process of moving

molecules A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioche ...

from an area of low

concentrations In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', ''molar concentration'', ''number concentration'', an ...

to an area of high concentration. There are two types of active transport, primary active transport and

secondary active transport In cellular biology, ''active transport'' is the movement of molecules or ions across a cell membrane from a region of lower concentration to a region of higher concentration—against the concentration gradient. Active transport requires cellul ...

. Primary active transport uses

adenosine triphosphate Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is an organic compound that provides energy to drive many processes in living cells, such as muscle contraction, nerve impulse propagation, condensate dissolution, and chemical synthesis. Found in all known forms of ...

(ATP) to move specific molecules and solutes against its concentration gradient. Examples of molecules that follow this process are

potassium Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmosphe ...

K⁺,

sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable iso ...

Na⁺, and

calcium Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to ...

Ca²⁺. A place in the human body where this occurs is in the intestines with the uptake of

glucose Glucose is a simple sugar with the molecular formula . Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, using ...

. Secondary active transport is when one solute moves down the

electrochemical gradient An electrochemical gradient is a gradient of electrochemical potential, usually for an ion that can move across a membrane. The gradient consists of two parts, the chemical gradient, or difference in solute concentration across a membrane, and th ...

to produce enough energy to force the transport of another solute from low concentration to high concentration. An example of where this occurs is in the movement of glucose within the proximal convoluted tubule (PCT).

Passive Transport

Main article:

Passive transport Passive transport is a type of membrane transport that does not require energy to move substances across cell membranes. Instead of using cellular energy, like active transport, passive transport relies on the second law of thermodynamics to dri ...

Passive transport is the process of moving molecules from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration without expelling any energy. There are two types of passive transport, passive diffusion and

facilitated diffusion Facilitated diffusion (also known as facilitated transport or passive-mediated transport) is the process of spontaneous passive transport (as opposed to active transport) of molecules or ions across a biological membrane via specific transmembra ...

. Passive diffusion is the unassisted movement of molecules from high concentration to low concentration across a permeable membrane. One example of passive diffusion is the

gas exchange Gas exchange is the physical process by which gases move passively by Diffusion#Diffusion vs. bulk flow, diffusion across a surface. For example, this surface might be the air/water interface of a water body, the surface of a gas bubble in a liqui ...

that occurs between the

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...

in the

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the c ...

and the

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

present in the lungs. Facilitated diffusion is the movement of polar molecules down the concentration gradient with the assistance of

membrane proteins Membrane proteins are common proteins that are part of, or interact with, biological membranes. Membrane proteins fall into several broad categories depending on their location. Integral membrane proteins are a permanent part of a cell membrane ...

. Since the molecules associated with facilitated diffusion are polar, they are repelled by the hydrophobic sections of permeable membrane, therefore they need to be assisted by the membrane proteins. Both types of passive transport will continue until the system reaches equilibrium. One example of facilitated diffusion is the movement glucose from small intestine

epithelial Epithelium or epithelial tissue is one of the four basic types of animal tissue, along with connective tissue, muscle tissue and nervous tissue. It is a thin, continuous, protective layer of compactly packed cells with a little intercellula ...

cells into the

extracellular matrix In biology, the extracellular matrix (ECM), also called intercellular matrix, is a three-dimensional network consisting of extracellular macromolecules and minerals, such as collagen, enzymes, glycoproteins and hydroxyapatite that provide stru ...

of the blood capillaries.

Transcytosis

Main article:

Transcytosis Transcytosis (also known as cytopempsis) is a type of transcellular transport in which various macromolecules are transported across the interior of a cell. Macromolecules are captured in vesicles on one side of the cell, drawn across the cell, and ...

Transcytosis is the movement of large molecules across the interior of a cell. This process occurs by engulfing the molecule as it moves across the interior of the cell and then releasing the molecule on the other side. There are two types of transcytosis are receptor-mediated transcytosis (RMT) and adsorptive-mediated transcytosis (AMT). An example where both types of transcytosis occur is the movement of macromolecules across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) into the central nervous system (CNS).

Paracellular Transport

In contrast,

paracellular transport Paracellular transport refers to the transfer of substances across an epithelium by passing through the intercellular space ''between'' the cells. It is in contrast to transcellular transport, where the substances travel ''through'' the cell, pass ...

is the transfer of substances across an epithelium by passing through an intercellular space between the cells. *1. It differs from transcellular transport, where the substances travel through the cell passing through both the apical membrane and basolateral membrane *2.

Renal physiology Renal physiology (Latin ''rēnēs'', "kidneys") is the study of the physiology of the kidney. This encompasses all functions of the kidney, including maintenance of acid-base balance; regulation of fluid balance; regulation of sodium, potassium, ...

. Transcellular transport is more likely to involve energy expenditure than paracellular transport. *3.

Capillaries A capillary is a small blood vessel from 5 to 10 micrometres (μm) in diameter. Capillaries are composed of only the tunica intima, consisting of a thin wall of simple squamous endothelial cells. They are the smallest blood vessels in the body: ...

of the

blood–brain barrier The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a highly selective semipermeable membrane, semipermeable border of endothelium, endothelial cells that prevents solutes in the circulating blood from ''non-selectively'' crossing into the extracellular fluid of ...

have only transcellular transport, in contrast with normal capillaries, which have both transcellular and paracellular transport.

References

Biological processes {{cell-biology-stub