Jump to content

Thermodynamics of membrane transport... HELP!!

Featured Replies

How many moles of ATP are required to pump one mole of Ca2+ out of a cell when the cytoplasmic concentration is 0.2 uM, the extracellular concentration is 1.8 mM, and the membrane potential is -55 mV?

 

I know I have to use deltaG= RTln([Ain]/[Aout]) + ZFdeltaPsi

 

but how do I get the number of moles of ATP from deltaG??

Perhaps you can just assume that one mole of ATP delivers that-much energy and that additional thermodynamical contributions of the ATP (say pressure or entropy of unused vs. used) can be neglected. That's just a blind guess of mine, though. I am, sadly, not familiar with the physics of transport through a membrane.

Are you told anything about the mechanisms of transporting the Ca2+? maybe the active transporter uses a certain amount of ATP when pumping across the membrane?

  • Author

I solved the above equation and got deltaG= -10052.4 J

 

I know that hydrolysis of 1 mol ATP releases -30543.2 J

 

Would it make sense to just divide the energy needed (deltaG) by the amount of energy that 1 mol ATP provides?? I get a fraction of a mol of ATP though...

That sounds reasonable to me. An entire mole of ATP would be a hell of a lot of ATP so I'm not surprised it's only a fraction of a mole.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.