Phospholipid Bilayer Cell Membrane Lab Report

Homeostasis is defined as keeping the variables and conditions of a system constant and regulating the internal conditions. In a biological system at the cellular level, this can be defined as the process of maintaining stable conditions inside a cell, such as a normal pH, salinity, and ion concentration, to keep the cell healthy. There are several parts of the cell that play a role in homeostasis, but one of the more prominent ones is the phospholipid bilayer membrane. The cell membrane surrounds the cell, and therefore plays a large role in keeping the internal conditions of the cells constant. As mentioned earlier, the phospholipid bilayer cell membrane is crucial in keeping the internal conditions of the cell constant. This organelle surrounds the cell, providing a selectively permeable membrane to keep the concentration of substances constant (Campbell, Neil et al. 2009). The location of function of this organelle is on the outermost layer of a cell all around it, as it encompasses the cell. Since the cell membrane is selectively permeable, it only allows certain molecules to pass through, and therefore plays a large part in controlling the movement of substances into and out of the cell. It also plays a large role in the diffusion …show more content…
Because of this, the cell membrane is able to control the internal conditions and concentration of substances inside a cell. Since the cell membrane is so vital to the function of a cell, there are certain types of antimicrobial drugs that target it to kill bacteria. An example is daptomycin, which disrupts the cell membrane through rapidly depolarizing it (Straus, Suzana et al. 2006). Overall, the cell membrane plays a large role in maintaining homeostasis inside a cell and is vital to the cell’s