Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Cellular Membranes and Drug Transport

Cellular Membranes and Drug Transport

Drugs must traverse multiple biological barriers, such as multi-layered skin, single-layered intestinal epithelium, and the plasma membrane, to reach their target sites within the body. The plasma membrane, a highly structured composite of phospholipids, carbohydrates, and proteins, is the cell's protective boundary, facilitating selective substance exchange.
Phospholipids arrange themselves into a bilayer, with hydrophilic heads oriented outward and hydrophobic tails facing inward.

The Significance of Membrane Transport

The Significance of Membrane Transport

The transport of solutes across the cell membrane is essential for metabolic processes, like maintaining cell size and volume, generating the action potential, exchanging nutrients and gases, etc. Membrane transport can be either passive or active. It can be simple diffusion, facilitated, or mediated transport aided by transport proteins such as transporters and channels.
Transporters facilitate either an active or passive movement of solutes. They can allow a single-molecule transport down its...

Facilitated Diffusion

Facilitated Diffusion

The plasma membrane, a critical structure in cellular biology, houses an array of transporters, or carrier proteins, interspersed within its lipid bilayer. These proteins play a crucial role in solute transport through facilitated diffusion, a form of passive diffusion that uses transporters to move the molecules across the membrane.
In this process, substrates such as organic compounds and ions interact with a transporter on one side, triggering conformational changes in proteins that enable...

Facilitated Transport

Facilitated Transport

The chemical and physical properties of plasma membranes cause them to be selectively permeable. Since plasma membranes have both hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions, substances need to be able to transverse both regions. The hydrophobic area of membranes repels substances such as charged ions. Therefore, such substances need special membrane proteins to cross a membrane successfully. In facilitated transport, also known as facilitated diffusion, molecules and ions travel across a membrane via...

Facilitated Transport

Facilitated Transport

The chemical and physical properties of plasma membranes cause them to be selectively permeable. Since plasma membranes have both hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions, substances need to be able to transverse both regions. The hydrophobic area of membranes repels substances such as charged ions. Therefore, such substances need special membrane proteins to cross a membrane successfully. In facilitated transport, also known as facilitated diffusion, molecules and ions travel across a membrane via...

Pore Transport and Ion-Pair Transport

Pore Transport and Ion-Pair Transport

Pore transport and ion-pair formation are critical mechanisms for the absorption and distribution of drugs in the body.
Pore transport, also known as convective transport, is a process where small molecules like urea, water, and sugars rapidly cross cell membranes as though there were channels or pores in the membrane. Although direct microscopic evidence is limited but the concept of pores or channels is widely accepted based on physiological evidence. Despite the lack of direct microscopic...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

WITHDRAWN: Modulation of the kinetics of 3β-hydroxy-5-oxo-5,6-secocholestan-6-al/phosphatidylethanolamine Schiff base formation by cholesterol and cholesterol crystallization.

Chemistry and physics of lipids·2015

Same author

Modulation of the kinetics of 3β-hydroxy-5-oxo-5,6-secocholestan-6-al/phosphatidylethanolamine Schiff base formation by cholesterol and cholesterol crystallization.

Chemistry and physics of lipids·2015

Same author

Room temperature ordering of dipalmitoyl phosphatidylserine bilayers induced by short chain alcohols.

Chemistry and physics of lipids·2013

Same author

The oxysterol 3β-hydroxy-5-oxo-5,6-secocholestan-6-al changes the phase behavior and structure of phosphatidylethanolamine-phosphatidylcholine mixtures.

Chemistry and physics of lipids·2011

Same author

Thermotropic properties of brain lipids in the presence and absence of local anesthetics.

Biochemical pharmacology·2010

Same author

The oxidized form of cholesterol 3beta-hydroxy-5-oxo-5,6-secocholestan-6-al induces structural and thermotropic changes in phospholipid membranes.

Chemistry and physics of lipids·2009

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Fluorescence Recovery after Merging a Droplet to Measure the Two-dimensional Diffusion of a Phospholipid Monolayer

Fluorescence Recovery after Merging a Droplet to Measure the Two-dimensional Diffusion of a Phospholipid Monolayer

Published on: October 15, 2015

Ion Transport through Monolayers and Interfacial Films.

¹Department of Polymer Research, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovoth, Israel.

The Journal of General Physiology

|October 30, 2009

Summary

This study explores ion transport across thin films at the mercury/water interface. It details how film properties and ion interactions influence permeability, with implications for systems like lecithin monolayers.

Area of Science:

Electrochemistry
Physical Chemistry
Surface Science

Background:

Understanding ion transport across interfaces is crucial for various electrochemical applications.
Monolayers and thin films significantly influence interfacial processes.
Lecithin monolayers present unique challenges due to weak ion binding.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate ion transport mechanisms through monolayers and thin films at the mercury/water interface.
To develop a model describing ion permeability as a function of film properties.
To analyze the factors contributing to the activation energy of ion transport.

Main Methods:

Theoretical modeling of ion transport kinetics.
Analysis of rate constants (k(c)) using absolute rate theory.

More Related Videos

Temperature-Controlled Assembly and Characterization of a Droplet Interface Bilayer

Temperature-Controlled Assembly and Characterization of a Droplet Interface Bilayer

Published on: April 19, 2021

Membrane Transport Processes Analyzed by a Highly Parallel Nanopore Chip System at Single Protein Resolution

Membrane Transport Processes Analyzed by a Highly Parallel Nanopore Chip System at Single Protein Resolution

Published on: August 16, 2016

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Fluorescence Recovery after Merging a Droplet to Measure the Two-dimensional Diffusion of a Phospholipid Monolayer

Fluorescence Recovery after Merging a Droplet to Measure the Two-dimensional Diffusion of a Phospholipid Monolayer

Published on: October 15, 2015

Temperature-Controlled Assembly and Characterization of a Droplet Interface Bilayer

Temperature-Controlled Assembly and Characterization of a Droplet Interface Bilayer

Published on: April 19, 2021

Membrane Transport Processes Analyzed by a Highly Parallel Nanopore Chip System at Single Protein Resolution

Membrane Transport Processes Analyzed by a Highly Parallel Nanopore Chip System at Single Protein Resolution

Published on: August 16, 2016

Examination of film thickness, diffusion coefficient, and distribution coefficient effects.

Consideration of electrostatic interactions and monolayer compression work.

Main Results:

Ion permeability through monolayers is governed by a rate constant (k(c)).
Permeability through thicker films depends on film thickness, diffusion, and distribution coefficients.
Activation energy for ion transport includes electrostatic, compression, and boundary line formation terms.
Lecithin monolayers exhibit weak ion binding, complicating transport and retarding oxygen reduction.

Conclusions:

Ion transport is modulated by film properties and interfacial interactions.
The model provides a framework for understanding ion passage through thin films.
Lecithin's unique properties impact ion transport and electrochemical reactions at interfaces.