Anatomy and physiology of cells

Anatomy and Physiology of Cell
Name
Institution

Anatomy and Physiology of Cell
A membrane is a semipermeable layer that selectively allows substances that meet specific criteria to go through them unaided while locking others out. For these other material materials to pass through the membranes, a facilitated transport is required. One way of making materials to move faster through membranes is by adding transport proteins which can either act as a carrier or a channel for the substances (Rizzo, 2015). These proteins provide a low energetic barrier for the movement of material across the membrane through complementary arrangement of amino acids functional groups (Rizzo, 2015). Additionally, the increase of the membrane’s surface area by adding more folds to it.
Typically, plasma membranes of neighboring cells are separated by extracellular fluids. However, in specific tissues, cells might join through junctions which include desmosomes, tight junctions, and gap junctions. Desmosome is like spot welds that hold together tissues that undergo significant stress, skin for example (Rizzo, 2015). Tight junctions are like stitches between cells. The fully encircle each cell preventing any movement of materials between cells (Rizzo, 2015). As for gap junctions, they resemble tunnels. They connect the cytoplasm of the two neighboring cells, consisting of proteins called connexions (Rizzo, 2015).
A hypotonic situation comes about when the extracellu…