Page 102 - The Miracle in the Cell Membrane
P. 102
The Miracle in the Cell Membrane
atoms and chem i cal groups, but one has the small est
geo met ri cal dif fer ence, then the car ry ing sys tem will
recog nize this and refuse to carry it. 34
But how can a pro tein know the chem i cal for mu la of
anoth er mol e cule and dis tin guish it by the num ber of its
atoms? How can a pro tein devoid of intel lect and con -
scious ness assume this respon si bil i ty, which will ben e -
fit the cell? As the result of blind coin ci dence, it's of
course impos si ble for these pro teins them selves to rec-
og nize mol e cu les of use to the cell, to assume the task of
car ry ing these into the cell, or to ful fill these respon si bil -
i ties. Anyone with an open mind and con science will
appre ci ate how Allah man i fests His might and infi nite
knowl edge in all these details.
Due to the spe cial bilay er lipid of the cell mem brane,
the liq uids inside and out side the cell do not mix. In the
fluid out side the cell, sodi um lev els are high and potas -
si um lev els low. The exact reverse is true of the fluid
inside the cell. Similarly, although there are many chlo -
ride ions in the extra cel lu lar fluid, there are few in the
intra cel lu lar fluid. In the intra cel lu lar fluid, more over,
there is a strik ing ly heav i er con cen tra tion of phos phates
and pro teins than in fluid out side the cell. Many dif fer -
en ces like these are of great impor tance to the life of the
cell. All these bal an ces help shape the car ry ing mech a -
nism in the cell mem brane.
The exchange of sub stan ces through the cell mem -
brane takes place in two main ways, depend ing on
wheth er the cell uses ener gy or not:
100