As the name implies, when activated and induced to undergo a conformational change by a ligand, ions are able to flow through the channel and into the cell. This allows the charge across the membrane tobe manipulated by the cell. 

The binding of ligands causes the activation and conformational change in the ion channel to open it. Then, ions are able to flow into the cell. After a short time, the ligand dissociates from the ion gated channel. This causes the channel to deactivate and close. 

Phagocytosis is a form of endocytosis in which a cell takes up solid material through the invagination of the plasma membrane to form intracellular vesicles. In multicellular organisms, the process of phagocytosis is utilized in nutrient uptake, immune system response, and in cell recycling. Cells perform phagocytosis to uptake solid nutrients into the cell. The immune system uses phagocytosis to consume foreign material for eventual degradation. In the continual process of cell recycling, old and dead cell material is taken up and reused by cells.

In clathrin-mediated endocytosis, the binding of a specific ligand to a receptor triggers intracellular protein recruitment, which includes clathrin. These proteins stabilize the invagination and allow the clathrin pit to pull away from the plasma membrane. After it has separated from the membrane, the proteins and clathrin dissociate from the vesicle, which then fuses with an endosome. The invagination and vesicle formation from the plasma membrane includes the internalization of both the receptor and ligand. Over time the uptake by clathrin-mediated endocytosis decreases as the number of receptors on the cell’s surface. In other words, particle uptake declines due to the internalization of recptors as a result of clathrin-mediated endocytosis.

In clathrin-mediated endocytosis, the binding of a ligand to a receptor triggers plasma membrane invagination and protein recruitment. The recruited proteins, including clathrin, bind to the intracellular domain of the receptor. Clathrin facilitates invagination and endocytosis of the ligand by stabilizing the plasma membrane curvature. Clathrin and other recruited proteins dissociate from the endocytic vesicle once it fully invaginates and pinches off from the plasma membrane. 

 Exocytosis is the release of the contents of vesicles into extracellular space through the fusion of the vesicles with the plasma membrane. The process of exocytosis is a method through which the cell is able to secrete proteins into extracellular space. An example of this is the release of neurotransmitters from a neuron. During the process of exocytosis, intracellular vesicles originating from the Golgi apparatus fuse with the plasma membrane. This fusion increases the surface area of the plasma membrane and incorporates any proteins within the vesicle membrane into the cell’s plasma membrane. 

Pinocytosis is a type of endocytosis. During pinocytosis, the cell takes up extracellular fluid through plasma membrane invagination and vesicle formation. The process is energetically costly and requires many molecules of ATP. Pinocytosis is a non-specific process, meaning that materials are not selectively taken up. In other words, extracellular fluid is engulfed along with any or all particles within it. The fluid taken up by pinocytosis is already digested and degraded; therefore, the process is not accompanied by the action of lysosomes.

Active transport is the movement of molecules against their concentration gradient (from an area of low concentration to an area of high concentration, requiring energy, usually in the form of ATP. Passive transport is the movement of molecules with their concentration gradient (from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration), and does not require energy input. Facilitate diffusion is the movement of molecules with their concentration gradient across the cell membrane using transmembrane proteins (carrier proteins or channels), and does not require energy. Osmosis is the movement of a solvent (usually water), from an area with a lower concentration of solute to an area of higher concentration of solute; this process does not require energy.

This is the definition of passive transport. Active transport requires energy for molecules to move. Also, the Na+/K+ pump requires energy, and thus is a form of active transport. Vesicle transport, including endocytosis and exocytosis, also requires energy.

 Only small, nonpolar molecules and small, uncharged, polar molecules can freely diffuse across the lipid bilayer of the cell. Glucose is a large molecule that cannot freely diffuse across the lipid bilayer, even if this would be favored by the concentration gradient. Facilitated diffusion is the movement of molecules across the lipid bilayer using carrier proteins or channels, which does not require energy input.