Textbook Question
The type of fracture that occurs in osteoporosis:
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Ch. 3 Cells: The Living Units
Hoehn, Haynes, Abbott12th EditionMarieb Human Anatomy & PhysiologyISBN: 9780138242732
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Table of contents
- Ch. 1 The Human Body: An Orientation25
- Ch. 2 Chemistry Comes Alive24
- Ch. 3 Cells: The Living Units24
- Ch. 4 Tissue: The Living Fabric19
- Ch. 5 The Integumentary System12
- Ch. 6 Bones and Skeletal Tissues19
- Ch. 7 The Skeleton14
- Ch. 8 Joints7
- Ch. 9 Muscles and Muscle Tissue26
- Ch. 10 The Muscular System25
- Ch. 11 Fundamentals of the Nervous System and Nervous Tissue23
- Ch. 12 The Central Nervous System25
- Ch. 13 The Peripheral Nervous System and Reflex Activity30
- Ch. 14 The Autonomic Nervous System16
- Ch. 15 The Special Senses26
- Ch. 16 The Endocrine System26
- Ch. 17 Blood27
- Ch. 18 The Cardiovascular System: The Heart25
- Ch. 19 The Cardiovascular System: Blood Vessels27
- Ch. 20 The Lymphatic System and Lymphoid Organs and Tissues16
- Ch. 21 The Immune System: Innate and Adaptive Body Defenses27
- Ch. 22 The Respiratory System21
- Ch. 23 The Digestive System31
- Ch. 24 Nutrition, Metabolism, and Energy Balance26
- Ch. 25 The Urinary System26
- Ch. 26 Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Balance24
- Ch. 27 The Reproductive System24
- Ch. 28 Pregnancy and Human Development25
- Ch. 29 Heredity11
Hoehn, Haynes, Abbott12th EditionMarieb Human Anatomy & PhysiologyISBN: 9780138242732Not the one you use?Change textbook
Chapter 3, Problem 17
Comment on the role of the sodium-potassium pump in maintaining a cell's resting membrane potential.
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Understand that the resting membrane potential is the electrical potential difference across the cell membrane when the cell is at rest, typically around -70 mV in many cells.
Recognize that the sodium-potassium pump (Na\(\textsuperscript{+}\)/K\(\textsuperscript{+}\) ATPase) actively transports ions against their concentration gradients using energy from ATP hydrolysis.
Note that the pump moves 3 sodium ions (Na\(\textsuperscript{+}\)) out of the cell and 2 potassium ions (K\(\textsuperscript{+}\)) into the cell, which helps maintain the concentration gradients of these ions across the membrane.
Explain that these ion gradients are crucial because they create a difference in charge distribution, contributing to the negative charge inside the cell relative to the outside, which is essential for the resting membrane potential.
Finally, emphasize that the pump's activity is electrogenic (it moves unequal charges), which directly contributes to the negativity inside the cell, thus helping to maintain and stabilize the resting membrane potential.
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Key Concepts
Here are the essential concepts you must grasp in order to answer the question correctly.
Resting Membrane Potential
The resting membrane potential is the electrical voltage difference across a cell's membrane when the cell is at rest. It typically ranges from -60 to -70 millivolts in neurons, resulting from the uneven distribution of ions, mainly sodium and potassium, inside and outside the cell.
Recommended video:
07:53
Resting Membrane Potential
Sodium-Potassium Pump Function
The sodium-potassium pump is an active transport protein that moves 3 sodium ions out of the cell and 2 potassium ions into the cell against their concentration gradients. This process requires ATP and helps maintain the ion concentration differences essential for cellular functions.
Recommended video:
03:40The Sodium Potassium Pump
Contribution of the Pump to Membrane Potential
By actively transporting more positive ions out than in, the sodium-potassium pump creates an electrical imbalance, contributing directly to the negative charge inside the cell. This electrogenic action helps sustain the resting membrane potential and supports cellular excitability.
Recommended video:
07:53Resting Membrane Potential
Related Practice
Textbook Question
A nerve cell and a lymphocyte are presumed to differ in their:
a. Specialized structure
b. Suppressed genes and embryonic history
c. Genetic information
d. a and b, e. a and c
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Textbook Question
Differentiate between primary and secondary active transport processes.
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Textbook Question
Two examples of chemotherapeutic drugs (drugs used to treat cancer) and their cellular actions are listed below. Explain why each drug could be fatal to a cell. • Vincristine (brand name Oncovin): damages the mitotic spindle • Doxorubicin (Adriamycin): binds to DNA and blocks mRNA synthesis
Textbook Question
A pancreas cell makes proteins (enzymes) that it releases to the small intestine. Which of the following best describes the path of these proteins from synthesis to exocytosis at the pancreatic cell's plasma membrane (PM)? a. Golgi → rough ER → PM, b. smooth ER → Golgi → lysosome → PM, c. rough ER → Golgi → PM, d. nucleus → Golgi → PM.
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Textbook Question
In their anatomy lab, many students are exposed to the chemical preservatives phenol, formaldehyde, and alcohol. Our cells break down these toxins very effectively. What cellular organelle is responsible for this?
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