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

Carrier-Mediated Transport

Carrier-Mediated Transport

Carrier-mediated transport is a pivotal process in drug absorption, particularly for lipid-insoluble drugs, and encompasses facilitated diffusion and active transport. Facilitated diffusion allows drugs to move along their concentration gradient without energy expenditure, while active transport utilizes ATP to drive drug movement against this gradient.
Active transport involves two types of membrane-spanning transporters: uptake and efflux. Uptake transporters are expressed in the small...

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...

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...

Membrane Transporters

Membrane Transporters

Transporters are essential membrane transport proteins with functions related to cell nutrition, homeostasis, communication, etc. Approximately 7% of all genes in the human genome code for transporters or transporter-related proteins.
Transporters are mainly composed of alpha-helices, built from bundles of ten or more helices traversing the plasma membrane. The solute-binding sites are located midway, where some of the helices are broken or distorted, making space for the binding site through...

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.

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...

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by

Same author

Millimeter/sub-mm spectroscopy of the CrBr radical in the high spin X<sup>6</sup>Σ<sup>+</sup> state.

The Journal of chemical physics·2019

Same author

Flash glucose monitoring for the safe use of a 2-day intermittent energy restriction in patients with type 2 diabetes at risk of hypoglycaemia: An exploratory study.

Diabetes research and clinical practice·2019

Same author

Determinants of elevated blood lead levels among working men in Greater Beirut.

Le Journal medical libanais. The Lebanese medical journal·2002

Same author

Patterns and predictors of employer risk-reduction activities (ERRAs) in response to a work-related upper extremity cumulative trauma disorder (UECTD): reports from workers' compensation claimants.

American journal of industrial medicine·2000

Same author

The impact of occupational injury on injured worker and family: outcomes of upper extremity cumulative trauma disorders in Maryland workers.

American journal of industrial medicine·2000

Same author

Health effects of depleted uranium on exposed Gulf War veterans.

Environmental research·2000

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 20, 2026

Models and Methods to Evaluate Transport of Drug Delivery Systems Across Cellular Barriers

Models and Methods to Evaluate Transport of Drug Delivery Systems Across Cellular Barriers

Published on: October 17, 2013

Membrane transporters in drug development.

Advances in Pharmacology (San Diego, Calif.)

|July 11, 2012

Summary

Membrane transporters significantly impact drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination (ADME), leading to complex drug-drug interactions (DDIs). Understanding these interactions is crucial for pharmaceutical development and drug safety.

Area of Science:

Pharmacology and Drug Development
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Background:

Membrane transporters exhibit specific tissue distributions, influencing endogenous and xenobiotic processes.
Growing awareness in the pharmaceutical industry highlights the impact of transporters on drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination (ADME) and drug safety.
Clinically significant transporter-mediated drug-drug interactions (DDIs) are increasingly observed, involving multiple transporters and posing challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

To explore the complex interplay of membrane transporters and enzymes in drug ADME and pharmacogenomics.
To address challenges in studying membrane transporters, including lack of specific tools and competing mechanisms.
To investigate the role of membrane transporters in drug toxicity and their potential as drug delivery agents.

More Related Videos

High-Throughput Expression and Purification of Human Solute Carriers for Structural and Biochemical Studies

High-Throughput Expression and Purification of Human Solute Carriers for Structural and Biochemical Studies

Published on: September 29, 2023

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: May 20, 2026

Models and Methods to Evaluate Transport of Drug Delivery Systems Across Cellular Barriers

Models and Methods to Evaluate Transport of Drug Delivery Systems Across Cellular Barriers

Published on: October 17, 2013

High-Throughput Expression and Purification of Human Solute Carriers for Structural and Biochemical Studies

High-Throughput Expression and Purification of Human Solute Carriers for Structural and Biochemical Studies

Published on: September 29, 2023

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

Main Methods:

Review of current knowledge on membrane transporter roles in drug development.
Discussion of challenges in transporter research, such as substrate/inhibitor availability and in vitro tools.
Application of computational modeling, including physiology-based pharmacokinetic (PB/PK) modeling, for transporter interactions.

Main Results:

Multiple transporters (up to nine) are implicated in DDIs for widely prescribed drugs.
Complex interplay exists between transporters and enzymes affecting drug ADME and pharmacogenomics.
Physiology-based pharmacokinetic (PB/PK) modeling aids in integrating multiple ADME mechanisms.

Conclusions:

Understanding membrane transporter contributions to ADME and toxicity is a key challenge in drug development.
Robust in vitro to in vivo scaling factors, potentially including absolute protein quantitation, are needed for accurate modeling.
Further research is required to fully leverage knowledge of membrane transporters for drug discovery and safety.