How does glucose enter the cell?
1 min readNov 19, 2023
How does glucose enter the cell membrane for glycolysis? Are they active or passive or facilitated diffusion?
Through Facilitated diffusion glucose gets into the cell membrane. acilitated diffusion allows molecules to pass through cell membranes along a concentration gradient, from high to low concentration.
- It utilizes special transport proteins embedded in the cell membrane to aid the movement of molecules.
- Glucose transport requires facilitated diffusion to enter cells, as the cell membrane is impermeable to glucose without assistance.
- Glucose transporters (GLUT proteins) selectively bind to glucose molecules and flip their conformation to shuttle the glucose across the membrane.
- Facilitated diffusion does not require energy input from ATP, unlike active transport against a gradient.
- GLUT proteins facilitate gradient-driven diffusion of glucose down its concentration gradient into the cell’s cytoplasm where it is needed.
- The abundance of GLUT transporters in a cell determines the rate of glucose intake from the bloodstream.
Reflective thought: Glucose transporters are specialized carrier proteins facilitating glucose uptake into cells. Research shows that there are now five different kinds of glucose transporters. The tissues (heart, skeletal muscle, and adipose tissue) need insulin for glucose absorption.
