Where does facilitated diffusion happen in the body and how does this help the funtioning of our bodies?
Facilitated diffusion (or facilitated transport) is a process of diffusion, a form of passive transport, where molecules diffuse across membranes, with the assistance of transport proteins. Charged ions dissolve in water and diffuse through water channel proteins. These ion channels are gated so they can open and close, thus regulating the ion flow. Larger molecules diffuse through carrier proteins that change shape as the molecules are carried through, for example glucose and amino acids. Small uncharged molecules can easily diffuse across cell membranes. However, due to the hydrophobic nature of the lipids that make up cell membranes, water-soluble molecules and ions cannot do so; instead, they are helped across by transport proteins. The transport protein involved is intrinsic, that is, it completely spans the membrane. It also has a binding site for the specific molecule such as glucose, or ion to be transported. After binding to the molecule, the protein changes shape and carries
