Joseph's Story
B. Assuming Joseph’s heart has stopped, what cellular processes and membrane functions are going to be affected by loss of oxygen, blood glucose, and waste removal? Once the heart stops beating, blood, with oxygen and glucose, is not delivered to the body and ATP is not able to be produced. Without ATP production, cells are unable to function, oxygenation will not remain, blood glucose will not be controlled, and delivery of nutrients through the cell membrane and waste removal will cease, causing toxicity in the cells and organ systems.
C. Which intracellular organelles have membranes as part of their structure? How would the breakdown of the membranes of these structures affect the function of Joseph’s heart cells? Organelles are protected within a cell by the cell membrane’s phospholipid bilayer. Mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouse also has a double-membrane. Single membrane organelles include ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, lysosomes, peroxisomes, proteasomes, and the nucleus. Because each type of organelle has a specific function and structure, with specific and different chemical reaction, the absence of membranes would cause “chemical chaos” in the cell, due to interference and intermixing among different chemically reacting organelles. Specifically with breakdown of the mitochondria, ATP production would cease, leaving the cell without energy. If the nucleus membrane breaks down, DNA material would be lost.
D. Two important pieces of information – the instructions Joseph’s body needs to repair itself and his predisposition for vascular disease – are both contained within the cell on which structures? DNA, the body’s genetic makeup, including Joseph’s predisposition to disease, is found primarily in the nucleus, but also in the mitochondria. To repair itself, the messenger RNA, having received a transcribed copy of DNA from the nucleus, binds to a ribosome and pairs with transfer RNA for protein synthesis and
C. Which intracellular organelles have membranes as part of their structure? How would the breakdown of the membranes of these structures affect the function of Joseph’s heart cells? Organelles are protected within a cell by the cell membrane’s phospholipid bilayer. Mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouse also has a double-membrane. Single membrane organelles include ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, lysosomes, peroxisomes, proteasomes, and the nucleus. Because each type of organelle has a specific function and structure, with specific and different chemical reaction, the absence of membranes would cause “chemical chaos” in the cell, due to interference and intermixing among different chemically reacting organelles. Specifically with breakdown of the mitochondria, ATP production would cease, leaving the cell without energy. If the nucleus membrane breaks down, DNA material would be lost.
D. Two important pieces of information – the instructions Joseph’s body needs to repair itself and his predisposition for vascular disease – are both contained within the cell on which structures? DNA, the body’s genetic makeup, including Joseph’s predisposition to disease, is found primarily in the nucleus, but also in the mitochondria. To repair itself, the messenger RNA, having received a transcribed copy of DNA from the nucleus, binds to a ribosome and pairs with transfer RNA for protein synthesis and