Chapter V: The Cell Membrane and Transport
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Explain how the structure of cell membranes leads to its various functions including selective permeability and transport, and cell signaling.
The plasma membrane, which is also called the cell membrane, has many functions, but the most basic one is to define the borders of the cell and keep the cell functional. The plasma membrane is selectively permeable. This means that the membrane allows some materials to freely enter or leave the cell, while other materials cannot move freely, but require the use of a specialized structure, and occasionally, even energy investment for crossing.
Chapter V: The Cell Membrane and Transport
Licenses and Attribution
CC Licensed Content, Original:
This educational material includes AI-generated content from ChatGPT by OpenAI. The original content created by Dr. Zeinab Motawe from Hillsborough College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
All images in this textbook generated with DALL-E are licensed under the terms provided by OpenAI, allowing for their free use, modification, and distribution with appropriate attribution.
CC Licensed Content, Shared Previously:
Adapted from:
- Bartee, L., Shriner, W., & Creech, C. (2016). Principles of Biology, CC BY 4.0.
