Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Water molecules freely diffuse through the plasma membrane in both directions, and as the rate of water diffusion is the same in each direction, the cell will neither gain nor lose water. An iso-osmolar solution can be hypotonic if the solute is able to penetrate the cell membrane.
In hypotonic solutions, water flows into the cell and the cell swells (turgescence). Osmotic shock or osmotic stress is physiologic dysfunction caused by a sudden change in the solute concentration around a cell, which causes a rapid change in the movement of water across its cell membrane.
When a cell swells due to external osmotic pressure, membrane channels open and allow efflux of osmolytes carrying water, restoring normal cell volume. These molecules are involved in counteracting the effects of osmotic stress, which occurs when there are fluctuations in the concentration of solutes (such as ions and sugars) inside and outside ...
The process of osmosis over a semipermeable membrane.The blue dots represent particles driving the osmotic gradient. Osmosis (/ ɒ z ˈ m oʊ s ɪ s /, US also / ɒ s-/) [1] is the spontaneous net movement or diffusion of solvent molecules through a selectively-permeable membrane from a region of high water potential (region of lower solute concentration) to a region of low water potential ...
Penetrating solutes can diffuse through the cell membrane, causing momentary changes in cell volume as the solutes "pull" water molecules with them. Non-penetrating solutes cannot cross the cell membrane; therefore, the movement of water across the cell membrane (i.e., osmosis) must occur for the solutions to reach equilibrium.
Water always flows first from outside the cell into the cytoplasm, and is only then moved from the cytoplasm into the contractile vacuole for expulsion. Species that possess a contractile vacuole typically always use the organelle, even at very hypertonic (high concentration of solutes) environments, since the cell tends to adjust its cytoplasm ...
When in a hypotonic solution, water flows into the membrane and increases the cell's volume, while in an isotonic solution, water flows in and out of the cell at an equal rate. [ 4 ] Turgidity is the point at which the cell's membrane pushes against the cell wall, which is when turgor pressure is high.
Plasmolysis can be reversed if the cell is placed in a hypotonic solution. Stomata close to help keep water in the plant so it does not dry out. Wax also keeps water in the plant. The equivalent process in animal cells is called crenation. The liquid content of the cell leaks out due to exosmosis.