selective permeability
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selective permeability
or differential permeability
the capacity of a membrane to allow some particles to pass through but not others. Such ‘differentially permeable’ membranes (e.g. CELL MEMBRANE, cellular organelle membrane, TONOPLAST) allow water molecules to pass readily through them, whereas solutes dissolved in water can pass less rapidly or not at all. The ability of molecules to travel across the membrane and the velocity with which they do so is dependent on the fat solubility, size, and charge of the molecules. An extreme example of differential permeability is a semipermeable membrane which is almost completely impermeable to solute molecules, but is permeable to the solvent.Such membranes, however, are rare.see ACTIVE TRANSPORT.Collins Dictionary of Biology, 3rd ed. © W. G. Hale, V. A. Saunders, J. P. Margham 2005
References in periodicals archive
The BBB is a crucial
selective permeability barrier that separates circulating blood from the brain extracellular fluid in the central nervous, to block harmful substances from entering the brain.
Mitochondria in cancer cells generally have a malfunction of their
selective permeability (Flescher, 2005).
Intestinal epithelium not only allows
selective permeability as a filter for absorption of nutrients, but also is regarded as the first line of defense to foreign antigens, such as pathogens and toxins coming from intestinal lumen (Groschwitz and Hogan, 2009; Suzuki, 2013).
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