Transport systems

Within an organism substances need to be moved from one place to

another - glucose to cells for respiration, Carbon dioxide out of cells
Nutrients, ions, water etc
To start with : Simple organisms
Diffusion is the main mode of transport it is the free movement of
particles in a liquid or gas down a concentration gradient, from an
area of high concentration to an area where the same particles are in
low concentration

To compare diffusion among organisms

Size, Surface area and gas exchange
The amount of oxygen needed by an organism is determined by:
The amount of living cells
The rate they need to respire
Requirement of oxygen is related to volume of an organism and the
rate depends on the surface area.

Note: make sure you understand Ficks Law from BY1

Which organism has the highest volume?

Which has the most surface available for

gas exchange?

Large Organisms e.g. Elephant

The surface area to volume ratio is much smaller
The external surface area of the body is not large enough for diffusion
of oxygen through it to take place rapidly enough to supply cells with
the oxygen it needs.

Features of a mass transport system

A system of vessels to carry substances from e.g. tubes or blood
vessels
A way of making sure that substances are moving in the right
direction. Eg. Nutrients in and wastes out
Means of moving materials fast..eg the heart, or a concentration
gradient
A suitable transport medium e.g Blood, water

Work sheet

Water in living organisms

The chemistry of water
Made of slightly negative oxygen atom which are attracted slightly
positive Hydrogen atoms in a model as one shown

Water has a simple molecular structure. It is composed of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms.
Each hydrogen atom is covalently bonded to the oxygen via a shared pair of electrons. Oxygen also has
two unshared pairs of electrons. Thus there are 4 pairs of electrons surrounding the oxygen atom, two
pairs involved in covalent bonds with hydrogen, and two unshared pairs on the opposite side of the
oxygen atom. Oxygen is an "electronegative" or electron "loving" atom compared with hydrogen. Water
is a "polar" molecule, meaning that there is an uneven distribution of electron density. Water has a
partial negative charge (-) near the oxygen atom due the unshared pairs of electrons, and partial
positive charges (+) near the hydrogen atoms.
An electrostatic attraction between the partial positive charge near the hydrogen atoms and the partial
negative charge near the oxygen results in the formation of a hydrogen bond as shown in the
illustration.
The ability of ions and other molecules to dissolve in water is due to polarity. For example, in the illustration
below sodium chloride is shown in its crystalline form and dissolved in water.
The polarity of water

Importance of water
1. Water is an excellent solvent substances dissolve in water eg in
an ionic substance the positive and negative charges gets attracted to
various parts of the water molecule and gets dissolved Substances
that may not dissolve in water may form colloids where solids
particles do not completely separate out but remains spread out.
Some others remain as emulsions (tiny droplets of one liquid
suspended in another liquis) or supensions (solid particles mixed with
liquid.
Blood is suspension of cells and platelets in plasma
Fats can be transported as emulsions

 2. surface tension. - behaving like there is a thin surface skin, due to

much attraction between water molecules

3. Amphoteric nature of water. - being able to act as both acid

(donating protons) and base (forming OH- ions and hence a proton
acceptor) due to this nature water acts as a buffer in the cells helping
reactions in progress from overproducing H+ or OH ions by mopping
them up

Blood and the cardiovascular system

Components
Plasma, - mainly water, has a wide range of dissolved of dissolved
substances, Fibrinogen vital for clotting
Erythrocytes Biconcave discs, 5 million per 1 mm of blood, formed in the
bone marrow and short bones. Contain haemoglobin, red in colour. Lifespan
120 days
Leucocytes much larger, about 4000 to 11000 per mm of blood, formed in
bone marrow of long bone and femur in the leg, lymphocytes are however
formed in the lymph glands and spleen. Defence
Platelets tiny fragments of cells called megakaryocytes. Involved in clotting

Functions of blood
Transport of food substances to the cells as needed
Tranport of excretory products e.g. CO2 and urea to the cells that
excreate them
Tranport of hormones
Help to maintain a steady body temperature by distribution of heat
Acts as a buffer to pH changes

How well adapted are Erythrocytes

Biconcave shape enhances more surface area to volume ratio
No nucleus mean more space created to pack haemoglobin
Numerous on the blood, 5 mill per mm of blood
Leucocytes some makes antibodies which destroy pathogens
Some engulf the pathogen itself. (phagocytosis.)

Transporting oxygen and carbon dioxide.

A) Oxygen
a haemoglobin molecule can pick up four molecules of oxygen and
bind to them. The conc of O2 in the RBC when blood enters the lungs
is low, hence diffusion of O2 into the blood takes place
Oxygen binds to the haemoglobin which means that at no time will
there be free oxygen in the blood thus a steep conc of oxygen is
always maintained and hence more O2 is loaded

In the cells the O2 conc is low in comparison to the blood so the O2

diffuse into the cells

 B) Carbon Dioxide.
CO2 Diffuses from respiring cells into the blood along a concentration
gradient.
CO2 reacts with water in the blood to form carbonic acid which
separates into H+ and HCO3 CO2 + H2O
H2CO3
H+ + HCO3
About 5% of the CO2 is carried in solution in plasma
10-20% is carried in haemoglobin forming Carbaminohaemoglobin
The rest is in cytoplasm of blood as hydrogen carbonate ions. Enzyme
carbonic anhydrase controls the rate of rxn between CO2 and water
The H+ produced in the process are accepted by the haemoglobin
acting as a buffer to prevent any pH changes of blood

Blood clotting mechanism

Why would you need your blood to clot as soon as possible if an injury happens ?
Escaping blood would render transport of substances difficult
Pathogens can enter in the wound and cause an infection
luckily a mechanism of blood clotting is in place to ensure less loss
Contact of the platelets and the collagen fibres in the skin causes them to break and
release substances
Serotonin causes the smooth muscle of blood vessel to
contract making it
more narrow and thus less blood flow through
Thromboplastin an enzyme that sets a number of reactions
catalyses the protein prothrombin to enzyme thrombin,. This
reaction needs calcium ions
Thrombin acts on another plasma protein fibrinogen converting it to
fibrin, a meshwork of fibres
More platelets and cells pouring from the wound gets trapped and they
form a clot

Circulation systems
Open and closed
Insects have open - blood not confined into special tubes
Larger animals have closed- Blood running in confined tubes, the
blood vessels
fish have single circulation blood goes through the heart once for a
single circuit

 Birds and mammals need a more complex system due to moving

around without the support of water but also maintain a constant
body temp. hence a double circulation.
Systemic circulation carries oxygenated blood to the tissues from the heart
Pulmonary circulation takes deoxygenated blood from heart to lungs
Advantages deoxygenated and oxygenated blood
does not mix hence as much oxygen as possible to the cells
Fully oxygenated can be delivered to cells at
high pressure

The blood vessels

Arteries

Carry blood away from heart

All arteries carry oxygenated blood except pulmonary artery which carry
deoxygenated blood from heart to lungs

 Major arteries more of Elastic fibre to stretch and accommodate

more pressure of blood without being damaged
Other types are smooth muscle which are more in arterioles and
collagen fibres. Peripheral arteries have more of muscle fibre
collagen gives general strength and flexibility to both arteries and
veins
Capillaries Arterioles branch into these. Every cell in the body is in close proximity
with a capillary. A simple structure suited to their function.
- No muscle or fibre in their structure, enabling them to fit
between cells for rapid diffusion of substances
- one cell thick for efficient diffusion of nurients and oxygen in
and CO2 out of cell

 Veins carry blood back to the heart.

Carry deoxygenated blood except the pulmonary vein which carries
oxygenated blood from lungs to heart.
Umbilical vein carries oxygenated blood from placenta into fetus
Veins hold the bulk of blood in the body due to their flabby nature.
Blood in veins is under low pressure and is to take it back to heart depends on
Valves found at intervals that prevent back flow when it its pushed forward
Most veins are found between muscles which when they contract the reduce the volume
of vein thus pushing blood forward

Blood Circulation and Cancer

Cancer is uncontrollable growth of abnormal cells called tumor.

The formation of new blood vessels anywhere in the body is called
angiogenesis. Cancer cells produce an activator molecule that
triggers angiogenesis which nourish growth of tumor

To treat it?
Blocking the blood vessels Dr Erki Rouslahti and team developed a peptide molecule
which binds to cancer cells in mice by attaching it to nanoparticles. The peptide molecule
causes blood clotting on the vessels supplying the tumor with blood forming a block
which cuts of nutrient supply on the tumor. 20% successful but still under research
Blocking receptors - Dr Isaiah Fidler using knockout mice showed that a drug called
Glivec could stop the growth of receptor molecules in the epithelial cells which respond
to triggers produced by cancer cells

Mice as Models ? - ethical questions

2007 Sir Martin Evans was awarded a Nobel prize for his work on
gene technology and knockout mice. ( Mice with specific genes
silenced or replaced so that they develop cancer or other disease.
This has revolutionized the study using animals and reduced the cost
of using animals for testing.
But the society asks whether it is right to modify genes and the idea
of using animals as toolkits raises concerns
Changing genes so that an animal can get a disease seems cruel to
animals