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Glucose transporters are a wide group of membrane proteins that facilitate the transport of glucose across the plasma membrane, a process known as facilitated diffusion. Because glucose is a vital source of energy for all life, these transporters are present in all phyla .
Relative to simple diffusion, the presence of aquaporins in biological membranes facilitates a 3– to 10-fold increase in water permeability. [13] Two types of aquaporins are expressed in the CNS: aquaporin-1, which is expressed by specialized epithelial cells of the choroid plexus , and aquaporin-4 (AQP4), which is expressed by astrocytes.
Simple squamous epithelium falls under the physiological category of exchange epithelium due to its ability to rapidly transport molecules across the tissue layer. To facilitate this movement, some types of simple squamous epithelium may have pores between cells to allow molecules to move through it, creating a leaky epithelium.
Typically, the ion(s) will move down the electrochemical gradient, allowing the other molecule(s) to move against the concentration gradient. The movement of the ion(s) across the membrane is facilitated diffusion, and is coupled with the active transport of the molecule(s). In symport, two molecule move in a 'similar direction' at the 'same time'.
Diffusion is a stochastic process due to the inherent randomness of the diffusing entity and can be used to model many real-life stochastic scenarios. Therefore, diffusion and the corresponding mathematical models are used in several fields beyond physics, such as statistics , probability theory , information theory , neural networks , finance ...
The self-diffusion coefficient of neat water is: 2.299·10 −9 m 2 ·s −1 at 25 °C and 1.261·10 −9 m 2 ·s −1 at 4 °C. [2] Chemical diffusion occurs in a presence of concentration (or chemical potential) gradient and it results in net transport of mass. This is the process described by the diffusion equation.
The glucose transporter (GLUTs) is a type of uniporter responsible for the facilitated diffusion of glucose molecules across cell membranes. [9] Glucose is a vital energy source for most living cells, however, due to its large size, it cannot freely move through the cell membrane. [16]
Facilitated diffusion in cell membrane, showing ion channels and carrier proteins. Facilitated diffusion (also known as facilitated transport or passive-mediated transport) is the process of spontaneous passive transport (as opposed to active transport) of molecules or ions across a biological membrane via specific transmembrane integral proteins. [1]