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Summary MCAT Notes - Biology & Biochemistry Section

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In-depth notes for the B/B section of the MCAT. Notes taken by a Biology major.

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Cell
●​ Nucleus
○​ Nucleolus makes ribosomes
○​ Assembled ribosome is 70S sedimentation band
■​ Ribosomes in soma of neurons
○​ Proteins in nucleus contain nuclear localization sequence
■​ How proteins enter nucleus
●​ Epithelial
○​ Squamous squished
○​ Cuboidal
○​ Columnar
○​ Stratified = not lined up linearly
○​ Pseudostratified is wacky looking non linear columns
○​ Transitional just looks fucked up (like stratified squamous + stratified columnar)
○​ Epithelial connected by tight junctions
■​ Not immune privileged
■​ Attached to basement membrane via cell-to-cell attachment
■​ BBB attached by tight junctions
○​ Epithelial produce mucus in lungs
■​ Specifically goblet cells
○​ Pneumocytes II produce surfactant in lungs
■​ Type of epithelial
○​ GI epithelial cells do lots of mitosis
●​ Golgi go cis → trans golgi
●​ Smooth ER involved in detox and lipid formation
●​ Transport within cell
○​ ER → Golgi or plasma membrane is anterograde
○​ Golgi/plasma membrane → ER is retrograde
●​ ETC in inner mitochondrial membrane for eukaryotes
○​ ETC in cell membrane of prokaryotes
○​ Creates 32 ATP
○​ Last step creates water from O2
○​ Uses NADH as energy
●​ Phospholipids
○​ Cell membrane made of phospholipids with cholesterol
○​ Held together by London Dispersion Forces
○​ Tail has many double bonds = unsaturated = reduces intermolecular interactions
= decrease forces holding it = increase membrane fluidity
■​ Saturated (single bonds) decrease membrane fluidity
○​ Peroxisomes bound by lipid bilayer
■​ Membrane-bound
■​ Other membrane bound organelles: nucleus, mitochondria, chloroplasts,
lysosomes, vacuoles, vesicles
●​ Lysosomes show radioactivity or fluorescence

, ●​ Lysosomes have degradative enzymes that function at low pH
○​ Lysosome is acidic lumen w digestive enzymes
○​ For hydrolysis of macromolecules and infectious agents
○​ Dynamic properties most rapid in phospholipids within plane of membrane
○​ Phospholipid is 2 fatty acids ester-linked to 1 glycerol + charged head
●​ Storage lipids made of 3 fatty acids ester-linked to 1 glycerol
○​ Neutral fat
○​ Aka triacylglycerol
●​ Ceramide made of 3 fatty acids ester-linked to 1 sphingosine
○​ Cell signaling
●​ Sphingomyelin is 2 fatty acids ester-linked to 1 sphingosine + charged head
○​ Insulator in myelin sheath of axons
○​ Cell signaling
●​ Mitochondria
○​ Affected most by thyroid
○​ Heteroplasmy is variability of mitochondria composition in cell
■​ From self-replication and cell division
○​ DNA mutations cause mitochondrial disorders
■​ Nonsense mutation = nonfunctional
■​ Missense affects shape and function
○​ Inner membrane has foldings called cristae
●​ Membrane
○​ Resting membrane potential depends on
■​ Differential distribution of ions across membrane
■​ Active transport processes
■​ Selective permeability of phospholipid bilayer
●​ NaCl does not readily diffuse through, but water can via osmosis
○​ Fluidity lowered by trans glycerophospholipids
■​ Increase melting point
■​ Glycerophospholipids have 2 fatty acid tails
●​ Cytoskeletal System
○​ Microfilaments made from actin
■​ Smallest
■​ Linked with cytokinesis and phagocytosis
○​ Intermediate filaments made from actin
■​ Mid size
■​ No movement; give structure
○​ Microtubules made from tubulin
■​ Largest
■​ Form flagella and cilia
●​ Cilia and pseudopodia unique to protists and eukaryotes
●​ Flagella for prokaryotes
■​ Dynein: motor protein that moves along microtubules towards center of
cell

, ■​ Kinesin: uses ATP hydrolysis to move along microtubules towards
peripheral of cell
●​ Plasma Membrane
○​ Hydrophobic (steroids/cholesterol) can pass bc inside is hydrophobic (tails)
■​ Hydrophilic need transporter to cross membrane
■​ So hydrophilic (like AA) get stuck on surface of plasma membrane
○​ Sphingolipids
■​ Ceramide
■​ Sphingomyelin
■​ Cerebroside
■​ Ganglioside
○​ Cholesterol keeps phospholipids in membrane from clumping
■​ Cholesterol only in esterified form in ER and Golgi
■​ Golgi only in eukaryotes
■​ Cholesterol is precursor to bile salts
○​ Myelin sheath speeds up signal propagation
■​ Faster conduction with myelin sheath than without
■​ Increases magnitude of potential difference during action potential
■​ Saltatory conduction of action potential
●​ Saltatory conduction is when action potentials jump between
nodes
■​ Myelin discontinuous at nodes of Ranvier
■​ Myelin also helps electric signals to dissipate slower
○​ Action potentials form at axon hillock (unmyelinated)
■​ Voltage gated sodium channels
●​ If VGSC are blocked, AP is prolonged
○​ Bc delays the repolarization phase back to resting
membrane potential
●​ Action potential, first thing that happens is VGSCs open at axon
hillock
○​ Calcium influx and neurotransmitter release does not
happen until action potentials arrive at axon terminals
■​ APs are all or nothing
○​ Ungated channels maintain resting membrane potential
○​ Graded potentials in cell body/dendrites
■​ NOT axon
○​ Schwann cells have high fat concentration
■​ Form myelin sheath
■​ Part of PNS
○​ Satellite cells surround neurons
■​ Part of PNS
○​ Sensory neurons are afferent
■​ Enter spinal cord on dorsal side
○​ CNS neural cells

, ■​ Astrocytes form BBB and regulate brain function
■​ Microglia are macrophages
●​ Present antigens to immune system
●​ Activate other immune cells (B and T)
●​ Initial immune response
■​ Ependymal are line ventricles
■​ Oligodendrocytes are lipids that form myelin sheath around neurons
○​ Synaptic transmission mediated by neurotransmitter vesicles
■​ Not dependent on myelin at synaptic bouton
○​ Cytoskeleton mediates neurotransmitter migration
○​ Cili move fluid in lungs, ependymal (nervous system), uterus
○​ Microvilli move food in small intestine
○​ Peripheral proteins bound with electrostatic interactions
○​ Cell junctions
■​ Gap junctions allow direct communication
●​ Cytoplasmic channels between adjacent cells
■​ Desmosomes bind adjacent cells by cytoskeletons
■​ Tight junctions on outermost epithelium
■​ Plasmodesmata cell-cell junctions in plants only
■​ Hemidesmosomes attach epithelial cells to underlying layers
○​ Steroids have 3 6-member rings and 1 5-member ring
■​ Squalene is precursor of steroids/cholesterol
■​ Terpenes are steroids
●​ Isoprene units
○​ Lipid bilayer formation spontaneous, increases entropy
■​ Clumping increases entropy
●​ Ports
○​ Sodium potassium port is antiport
■​ Primary active transport
■​ Against concentration gradient
○​ Sodium channel closes with depolarization
■​ Greater concentration inside
○​ But if you use sodium ionophore, it disrupts Na/K gradient
■​ = decreased production of ATP
○​ Potassium channel opens with repolarization
○​ Hyperpolarization: potential more negative than resting
■​ From Cl- in and K+ leaving
●​ Facilitated diffusion needs transport protein
○​ Down concentration gradient
○​ Transport affinity is a property of amino acid transport protein = does not change
●​ GABA opens ligand-gated channel
●​ Clathrin is vesicle-coating protein for endocytosis

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