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Related Concept Videos

Carrier-Mediated Transport01:06

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...
Overview of Protein Sorting and Transport01:45

Overview of Protein Sorting and Transport

Eukaryotic cells have different membrane-bound organelles with distinct protein requirements. The process by which proteins are targeted to a specific organelle is called protein sorting.
Protein sorting can be of two types: signal-based sorting and vesicle-based trafficking. In signal-based sorting, specific amino acid sequences called sorting signals target proteins to the proper location inside the cell either via gated transport or by protein translocation.  In gated transport, folded...
Drug Absorption Mechanism: Carrier-Mediated Membrane Transport01:19

Drug Absorption Mechanism: Carrier-Mediated Membrane Transport

Certain large, lipid-insoluble drug molecules that resemble amino acids, peptides, or glucose, require specialized carrier proteins to facilitate their diffusion across cell membranes. This transport can occur through either facilitated diffusion, which does not require energy input, or active transport, which does require energy input.
Facilitated diffusion is a passive process that utilizes human Solute Carrier (SLC) transporters. These transporters bind to the drug, undergo structural...
Membrane Proteins01:30

Membrane Proteins

Plasma membranes have integral transmembrane proteins involved in facilitated transport. These proteins are collectively referred to as transport proteins, and they function as either channels for the material or as carriers themselves. Channel proteins have hydrophilic domains exposed to the intracellular and extracellular fluids and a hydrophilic channel through their core that provides a hydrated opening for solutes to pass through the membrane layers. Passage through the channel allows...
Facilitated Diffusion01:16

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...
Membrane Transporters01:31

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...

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Real-time Imaging of Axonal Transport of Quantum Dot-labeled BDNF in Primary Neurons
10:53

Real-time Imaging of Axonal Transport of Quantum Dot-labeled BDNF in Primary Neurons

Published on: September 15, 2014

Morphogen transport.

Patrick Müller1, Katherine W Rogers, Shuizi R Yu

  • 1Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. pmueller@tuebingen.mpg.de

Development (Cambridge, England)
|March 28, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Morphogen gradients are crucial for tissue development. This study suggests that diffusion, hindered by environmental factors, best explains how these gradients form, rather than cell-based transport.

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Biology
  • Cell Biology
  • Biophysics

Background:

  • Morphogen gradients are essential for establishing tissue patterns during embryonic development.
  • The precise mechanisms of morphogen transport and gradient formation have been debated for decades.
  • Proposed models include passive diffusion and active cell-based transport like transcytosis and cytonemes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze and compare various morphogen transport models.
  • To investigate the formation of morphogen gradients in developing tissues.
  • To evaluate the supporting evidence for different transport mechanisms.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of existing imaging studies and biophysical measurements.
  • Case study analysis using specific morphogens: Nodal, fibroblast growth factor (FGF), and Decapentaplegic (Dpp).
  • Evaluation of passive (diffusion) versus active (cell-based) transport models.

Main Results:

  • Evidence from recent studies supports multiple morphogen transport mechanisms.
  • Passive diffusion, particularly when hindered by tortuosity and extracellular binding, is strongly supported.
  • Cell-based mechanisms like transcytosis and cytonemes are considered less likely based on current data.

Conclusions:

  • Morphogen gradient formation is primarily driven by diffusion processes.
  • Hindered diffusion, influenced by tissue architecture and molecular interactions, is the most plausible model.
  • This understanding refines models of developmental patterning and morphogen dispersal.