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Osmoregulation is the active regulation of the osmotic pressure of an organism's body fluids, detected by osmoreceptors, to maintain the homeostasis of the organism's water content; that is, it maintains the fluid balance and the concentration of electrolytes (salts in solution which in this case is represented by body fluid) to keep the body fluids from becoming too diluted or concentrated.
where is osmotic pressure, i is the dimensionless van 't Hoff index, c is the molar concentration of solute, R is the ideal gas constant, and T is the absolute temperature (usually in kelvins). This formula applies when the solute concentration is sufficiently low that the solution can be treated as an ideal solution .
Osmolarity is affected by changes in water content, as well as temperature and pressure. In contrast, osmolality is independent of temperature and pressure. For a given solution, osmolarity is slightly less than osmolality, because the total solvent weight (the divisor used for osmolality) excludes the weight of any solutes, whereas the total ...
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 ...
Osmotic concentration, formerly known as osmolarity, [1] is the measure of solute concentration, defined as the number of osmoles (Osm) of solute per litre (L) of solution (osmol/L or Osm/L). The osmolarity of a solution is usually expressed as Osm/L (pronounced "osmolar"), in the same way that the molarity of a solution is expressed as "M ...
Water potential is the potential energy of water per unit volume relative to pure water in reference conditions. Water potential quantifies the tendency of water to move from one area to another due to osmosis, gravity, mechanical pressure and matrix effects such as capillary action (which is caused by surface tension).
This is due to urea entering the cell down its concentration gradient, followed by water. The osmolarity of normal saline, 9 grams NaCl dissolved in water to a total volume of one liter, is a close approximation to the osmolarity of NaCl in blood (about 290 mOsm/L). Thus, normal saline is almost isotonic to blood plasma.
If plasma osmolarity rises above 290 mOsmol/L, then water will move out of the cell due to osmosis, causing the neuroreceptor to shrink in size. Embedded into the cell membrane are stretch inactivated cation channels (SICs), which when the cell shrinks in size, open and allow positively charged ions, such as Na + and K + ions to enter the cell ...