scholarly journals STUDIES ON OSMOTIC EQUILIBRIUM AND ON THE KINETICS OF OSMOSIS IN LIVING CELLS BY A DIFFRACTION METHOD

1935 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Balduin Lucké ◽  
Martin G. Larrabee ◽  
H. Keffer Hartline

1. Osmotic equilibrium and kinetics of osmosis of living cells (unfertilized eggs of Arbacia punctulata) have been studied by a diffraction method. This method consists of illuminating a suspension of cells by parallel monochromatic light and measuring, by means of telescope and scale, the angular dimensions of the resulting diffraction pattern from which the average volume of the cells may be computed. The method is far less laborious and possesses several advantages over direct measurement of individual cells. The average size of a large number of cells is obtained from a single measurement of the diffraction pattern and thus individual variability is averaged out. The observations can be made at intervals of a few seconds, permitting changes in volume to be followed satisfactorily. During the measurements the cells are in suspension and are constantly stirred. 2. Volumes of cells in equilibrium with solutions of different osmotic pressure have been determined. In agreement with our previous experiments, based upon direct microscope measurements, we have confirmed the applicability of the law of Boyle-van't Hoff to these cells; that is to say, the product of volume and pressure has been found to be approximately constant if allowance be made for the volume of osmotically inactive material of the cell contents. The volume of osmotically inactive material was found to be, on the average, 12 per cent of the initial cell volume; in eggs from different animals this value ranged from 6 to 20 per cent. 3. Permeability to water of the Arbacia egg has been found to average, at 22°C., 0.106 cubic micra of water per square micron of cell surface, per minute, per atmosphere of difference in osmotic pressure. 4. Permeability to ethylene glycol has been found to average, at 24°C., 4.0 x 10–15 mols, per square micron of cell surface, per minute, for a concentration difference of 1 mol per liter. This is in agreement with the values reported by Stewart and Jacobs.

1927 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 659-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morton McCutcheon ◽  
Baldwin Lucke

1. The rate of exosmosis of water was studied in unfertilized Arbacia eggs, in order to bring out possible differences between the kinetics of exosmosis and endosmosis. 2. Exosmosis, like endosmosis, is found to follow the equation See PDF for Equation, in which a is the total volume of water that will leave the cell before osmotic equilibrium is attained, x is the volume that has already left the cell at time t, and k is the velocity constant. 3. The velocity constants of the two processes are equal, provided the salt concentration of the medium is the same. 4. The temperature characteristic of exosmosis, as of endomosis, is high. 5. It is concluded that the kinetics of exosmosis and endosmosis of water in these cells are identical, the only difference in the processes being in the direction of the driving force of osmotic pressure.


1931 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Balduin Lucké ◽  
H. Keffer Hartline ◽  
Morton McCutcheon

Using unfertilized eggs of Arbacia punctulata as natural osmometers an attempt has been made to account for the course of swelling and shrinking of these cells in anisotonic solutions by means of the laws governing osmosis and diffusion. The method employed has been to compute permeability of the cell to water, as measured by the rate of volume change per unit of cell surface per unit of osmotic pressure outstanding between the cell and its medium. Permeability to water as here defined and as somewhat differently defined by Northrop is approximately constant during swelling and shrinking, at least for the first several minutes of these processes. Permeability is found to be independent of the osmotic pressure of the solution in which cells are swelling. Water is found to leave cells more readily than it enters, that is, permeability is greater during exosmosis than during endosmosis.


1941 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Balduin Lucké ◽  
R. A. Ricca

Investigations of the osmotic properties of oyster eggs by a diffraction method for measuring volumes have led to the following conclusions: 1. The product of cell volume and osmotic pressure is approximately constant, if allowance is made for osmotically inactive cell contents (law of Boyle-van't Hoff). The space occupied by osmotically inactive averages 44 per cent of cell volume. 2. Volume changes over a wide range of pressures are reversible, indicating that the semipermeability of the cell during such changes remains intact. 3. The kinetics of endosmosis and of exosmosis are described by the equation, See PDF for Equation, where dV is rate of volume change; S, surface area of cell, (P-Pe), the difference in osmotic pressure between cell interior and medium, and K, the permeability of the cell to water. 4. Permeability to water during endosmosis is 0.6µ3 of water per minute, per square micron of cell surface, per atmosphere of pressure. The value of permeability for exosmosis is closely the same; in this respect the egg cell of the oyster appears to be a more perfect osmometer than the other marine cells which have been studied. Permeability to water computed by the equation given above is in good agreement with computations by the entirely different method devised by Jacobs. 5. Permeability to diethylene glycol averages 27.2, and to glycerol 20.7. These values express the number of mols x 10–15 which enter per minute through each square micron of cell surface at a concentration difference of 1 mol per liter and a temperature of 22.5°C. 6. Values for permeability to water and to the solutes tested are considerably higher for the oyster egg than for other forms of marine eggs previously examined. 7. The oyster egg because of its high degree of permeability is a natural osmometer particularly suitable for the study of the less readily penetrating solutes.


1991 ◽  
Vol 37 (125) ◽  
pp. 107-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.E.R. Walford ◽  
J.F. Nye

AbstractOptical measurements have been made on the water lenses which form under pressure at grain boundaries in polycrystalline ice. Monochromatic light from a point source is focused by the lenses but, because the lenses are microscopic in size, the image is blurred by diffraction. The diffraction pattern observed under a microscope has been compared with the computed diffraction pattern to deduce the angle 2θat the rim of each lens. This is the dihedral angle for water at a grain boundary in ice, and gives the ratio of the grain-boundary energy to that of an ice-water interface. The most sensitive measurements are those made on the rings of the virtual diffraction pattern formed on the object side of the lens. They giveθ= 12.5 ± 0.5° for the grain boundary under observation, which is 26% lower than the previous value forθfound by ignoring diffraction.


1991 ◽  
Vol 37 (125) ◽  
pp. 107-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.E.R. Walford ◽  
J.F. Nye

Abstract Optical measurements have been made on the water lenses which form under pressure at grain boundaries in polycrystalline ice. Monochromatic light from a point source is focused by the lenses but, because the lenses are microscopic in size, the image is blurred by diffraction. The diffraction pattern observed under a microscope has been compared with the computed diffraction pattern to deduce the angle 2θ at the rim of each lens. This is the dihedral angle for water at a grain boundary in ice, and gives the ratio of the grain-boundary energy to that of an ice-water interface. The most sensitive measurements are those made on the rings of the virtual diffraction pattern formed on the object side of the lens. They give θ = 12.5 ± 0.5° for the grain boundary under observation, which is 26% lower than the previous value for θ found by ignoring diffraction.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ren Zhongyuan ◽  
Do Leduy ◽  
Saida Mebarek ◽  
Nermin Keloglu ◽  
Saandia Ahamada ◽  
...  

2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (8) ◽  
pp. 4985-4991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn M. Steffens ◽  
Thomas J. Hope

ABSTRACT The events preceding human immunodeficiency virus fusion and entry are influenced by the concentration and distribution of receptor and coreceptor molecules on the cell surface. However, the extent to which these proteins colocalize with one another in the cell membrane remains unclear. Using high-resolution deconvolution fluorescent microscopy of living cells, we found that both CD4 and CCR5 accumulate in protruding membrane structures containing actin and ezrin. Although CD4 and CCR5 extensively colocalize in these structures, they do not exist in a stable complex.


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