Joseph’s Story

B. Cellular processes and membrane functions that will be affected if Joseph’s heart stopped would be as follows. Oxygen, glucose, and essential ions that are required for the heart to pump will slow down. Each of his cells will have to work harder and faster which uses up his energy supply. Carbon dioxide levels inside the cells will rise, which causes his PH to drop. The mitochondria will run out of oxygen and glucose to make essential ATP, which eventually causes the cells to die. Active transport pumps will shut down the plasma membranes of his heart which in return causes sodium to leak into the cells and potassium to leak out. If heart stops the brain can no longer function and if the heart doesn’t get oxygen soon, loss of O2 will eventually lead to death. C. Lack of ATP affected the plasma membrane pumps and meant that calcium stopped moving from the cytosol into the endoplasmic reticulum of his cardiac muscle cells. The plasma membrane protects cellular contents and mediates the entry and exit of substances. The cytosol is where metabolic reactions occur. The ER has two parts, the rough ER is covered by ribosomes and is attached to the nuclear envelope and smooth ER lacks ribosomes. Lysosome enzymes normally bound safely inside vesicles began to digest the plasma membranes and the membranes of the organelles. The lysosomes are vesicles formed from Golgi complex and contain digestive enzymes. D. The coronary muscles and the heart muscles are needed in order for Joseph’s body to be repaired. The coronary muscles have to be unblocked in order to reestablish blood flow to the heart and because of have suffering a massive heart attack parts of the muscle can become permanently damage, the remaining parts that are not damaged will need to be provided oxygen. E. without ATP, oxygen, and nutrients, multiple cellular processes affecting homeostasis can shut down. The proteins in the cell membrane that were involved in the homeostatic imbalances of his heart cells were the plasma membrane itself, the cytosol where the calcium was removed, The ER, the cytoskeleton which was attacked by the proteases that spilled in the interior of the cell, and the lysosomes which were normally safely bound inside vesicles began digesting plasma membranes and the membranes of the rganelles. F. The damage to the cellular processes could have caused irreversible cell death in the brain within a matter of minutes if oxygen is not available. Water balance, ionic equilibrium, and PH balance are all key factors in the homeostasis of individual cells.