How cells signal and how substances move through the body
1 min read5 pages below
Cell communication and molecular transport explain how signals reach their targets and how substances move between the body’s compartments. The parts divide by process: membrane transport, signalling between cells, responses within cells, gas transport and sugar uptake. Organ and system anatomy, particular medicines and their development, inflammation and the clinical disorders of blood glucose belong to neighbouring concerns.
- How substances move through the body: solutions, membranes and compartments — solubility, charge and polarity, compartments and membranes, transport proteins, endocytosis and exocytosis
- Cell signalling: messengers, receptors and the drugs that act on them — chemical messengers, receptor location and types, ligand recognition, affinity and agonist or antagonist activity
- How cells respond to signals: intracellular signalling pathways — signal transduction, second messengers, kinases and gene expression, and pathways in disease and as drug targets
- How the blood carries oxygen and carbon dioxide — haemoglobin, oxygen saturation, bicarbonate, blood pH and the drive to breathe
- How the body takes up sugars: transporters, the gut and the liver — transporter families, carbohydrate digestion, intestinal absorption, liver uptake and insulin-dependent entry into cells