scholarly journals TRANSPORT OF WATER FROM CONCENTRATED TO DILUTE SOLUTIONS IN CELLS OF NITELLA

1949 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 559-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. V. Osterhout

The transport of water from concentrated to dilute solutions which occurs in the kidney and in a variety of living cells presents a problem of fundamental importance. If the cell acts as an osmometer we may expect to bring about such transport by creating an inwardly directed osmotic drive which is higher in one part of the cell than in other regions of the same cell. The osmotic drive is defined as the difference between internal and external osmotic pressure. Experiments with Nitella show that this expectation is justified. If water is placed at one end of the cell (A) and 0.4 M sucrose with an osmotic pressure of 11.2 atmospheres at the other end (B) water enters at A, passes along inside the cell, and escapes at B leaving behind at B the solutes which cannot pass out through the protoplasm. Hence the internal osmotic pressure becomes much higher at B than at A. When 0.4 M sucrose at B is replaced by 0.3 M sucrose with an osmotic pressure of 8.1 atmospheres we find that water enters at B, passes along inside the cell, and escapes at A so that water is transported from a concentrated to a dilute solution although the difference in osmotic pressure of the 2 solutions is more than 8 atmospheres. The solution at B thus becomes more concentrated. It is evident that if metabolism produces a higher osmotic pressure and consequently a higher inwardly directed osmotic drive in one region of the cell as compared with other parts of the same cell water may be transferred from a concentrated to a dilute solution so that the former solution becomes still more concentrated.

Recent work on the osmotic pressure of the hen’s egg has introduced a sense of uncertainty as to the value of the many comparisons which have been made between osmotic pressures of the blood, body fluids, and surrounding media. The uncertainty pertains not to theory but to a simple matter of fact and, as this involves that most fundamental datum for biological theory—viz., the state of the water in the living cell—there is urgent need to have it cleared up. The fact in dispute is the freezing point of the yolk and white of the bird’s egg. Atkins in 1909 by measurements, obviously made with the greatest care, found “no difference between the freezing point of white and yolk of the same egg and a mixture of white and yolk gave the same depression.” Atkins (1909) used the ordinary Beckmann technique and so, too, did Straub (1929) twenty years later, but with a surprisingly different result for he found a constant difference between white and yolk of the hen’s egg amounting on the average to —0·15° C. A. V. Hill (1930) confirmed Straub’s (1929) finding by a different method. He compared the fall in temperature caused by evaporation with that of water and from the difference calculated the osmotic pressure. Howard (1932) using the Beckmann method again found no difference in the freezing point of white and yolk. In these measurements the yolk was puddled by stirring so that at sometime or another the structure was broken down. Yolk is not only a chemical complex but it is alive, gross mechanical disturbance might, therefore, have the effect it usually has on living cells and cause chemical breakdown with consequent fall of the freezing point. Hale’s experiments were designed to explore this possibility by observing directly the freezing point of intact yolk and white.


1899 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 439-440
Author(s):  
Crum Brown

In vol. vi. of the Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie (1890), pp. 16–36, Nernst demonstrates the relation between the osmotic pressure of a given solution of N in A and the difference of concentration of two solutions of A in B, the one made by shaking up B with A and the other by shaking up B with the solution of N in A; where A and B are two liquids miscible with each other, but not in all proportions, as, for instance, water and ether, and N a substance soluble in A but not in B. Immediately after this paper, Nernst describes (l.c., pp. 37–40) an osmotic experiment in which the “semipermeable membrane” is a layer of the liquid B held in its place by capillarity. Through this layer no N can pass, because N is insoluble in B, but A will pass from what we may call the A side, on account of the concentration gradient, the layer of B containing more A dissolved in it on the A side than on the solution side. At the same time a pressure is developed on the solution side equal to the osmotic pressure of the solution of N.So far as the diffusion of A through the layer of B from the A side to the solution side is concerned, Nernst's experiment can be shown without fixing the layer of B. In the form exhibited to the Society, A is water, B phenol, and N calcium nitrate.


1931 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-94
Author(s):  
C. F. A. PANTIN

1. The rate of loss of salts by the estuarine worm, Gunda ulvae, on transference from sea water to various dilute solutions has been studied by measurement of the electric conductivity of the solutions. 2. Salts are lost by the worms from the moment of immersion in dilute solutions. Conditions affecting the rate of loss of salts are discussed. 3. The relation between the amount of salts lost and the total electrolyte content of the worm was determined. It is shown that the worms only lose 25 per cent. of their salts during the time that they imbibe a volume of water from the dilute solution equal to their initial volume. 4. The limiting internal salt concentration of worms surviving in waters containing calcium is about 6-10 per cent. of the normal concentration in sea water. No such limiting value can be found for distilled water, since salts are lost continuously till cytolysis occurs. The significance of the limiting concentration is discussed. 5. The effect of osmotic pressure, pH, dilute solutions of NaCl, NaHCO3, glycerol, CaCl2 and CaCO3 are studied. The presence of calcium reduces the rate of loss of salts. Other factors do not seem to influence this rate. 6. The relation of calcium to the maintenance of normal permeability to water and salts in the worm, and the significance of this to the problem of migration into fresh water are discussed.


2002 ◽  
Vol 46 (7) ◽  
pp. 2095-2103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Carryn ◽  
Françoise Van Bambeke ◽  
Marie-Paule Mingeot-Leclercq ◽  
Paul M. Tulkens

ABSTRACT The activities of ampicillin, meropenem, azithromycin, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, and moxifloxacin against intracellular hemolysin-positive Listeria monocytogenes were measured in human THP-1 macrophages and were compared with the extracellular activities observed in broth. All extracellular concentrations were adjusted to explore ranges that are clinically achievable in human serum upon conventional therapy. In broth, ampicillin, meropenem, and azithromycin were only bacteriostatic, whereas gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, and moxifloxacin were strongly bactericidal in a concentration-dependent manner. In cells, ampicillin, meropenem, azithromycin, and ciprofloxacin were slightly bactericidal (0.3- to 0.8-log CFU reductions), moxifloxacin was strongly bactericidal (2.1-log CFU reduction), and gentamicin was virtually inactive. The difference in the efficacies of moxifloxacin and ciprofloxacin in cells did not result from a difference in levels of accumulation in cells (6.96 ± 1.05 versus 7.75 ± 1.03) and was only partially explainable by the difference in the MICs (0.58 ± 0.04 versus 1.40 ± 0.17 mg/liter). Further analysis showed that intracellular moxifloxacin expressed only approximately 1/7 of the activity demonstrated against extracellular bacteria and ciprofloxacin expressed only 1/15 of the activity demonstrated against extracellular bacteria. Gentamicin did not increase the intracellular activities of the other antibiotics tested. The data suggest (i) that moxifloxacin could be of potential interest for eradication of the intracellular forms of L. monocytogenes, (ii) that the cellular accumulation of an antibiotic is not the only determinant of its intracellular activity (for fluoroquinolones, it is actually a self-defeating process as far as activity is concerned), and (iii) that pharmacodynamics (activity-to-concentration relationships) need to be considered for the establishment of efficacy against intracellular bacteria, just as they are for the establishment of efficacy against extracellular infections.


The seeds of the variety of barley known as Hordeum vulgare var. cœrulescens owe their colour to the presence of a blue pigment in the aleurone cells; this pigment, like litmus, is turned red by acids. Such seeds, when immersed in a dilute solution of sulphuric acid, if their coverings are damaged, soon turn pink in colour, which is a proof that acid diffuses into the endosperm; sound seeds, on the other hand, although they imbibe water freely from the solution, becoming soft and swollen, retain their colour, showing that the covering has the property of resisting the passage of the acid, whilst it allows water to diffuse freely into the interior of the grain. So much is this the case that a dilute solution of sulphuric acid may be concentrated by steeping barley in it. Thus in an experiment with a solution containing 4·9 grammes of acid per 100 c.c. it was found that the concentration of the acid was increased to 7·6 grammes per 100 c.c. In another case, in which the weight of water absorbed was ascertained, it was observed that the concentration effected was in direct proportion to the amount of water absorbed by the seeds. Having made the discovery of so remarkable a “semi-permeable” membrane, I have endeavoured to ascertain its behaviour towards substances generally. In my earlier experiments, of which an account has been given elsewhere, it was found that sulphuric acid could not penetrate into the grain, not only from volume normal solutions, but also from solutions containing 9, 18, or even 36 grammes of acid per 100 c.c. In the case of the seeds immersed in the strongest acid, however, the interior remained dry, presumably because the power of the seed contents of imbibing water was insufficient to overcome the osmotic pressure of the liquid.


1949 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. V. Osterhout
Keyword(s):  

When one end of a Nitella cell (A) is bathed in water and a solution of sucrose is placed at the other (B) we find that water enters at A, travels along inside the cell, and escapes at B. The solutes which cannot pass out through the protoplasm at B remain behind so that the osmotic pressure increases at B and diminishes at A until equilibrium is reached and the motion stops. An equation is given which enables us to predict with considerable accuracy the amount of flow required to produce equilibrium.


1988 ◽  
Vol 106 (4) ◽  
pp. 1229-1240 ◽  
Author(s):  
J A Cooper ◽  
D J Loftus ◽  
C Frieden ◽  
J Bryan ◽  
E L Elson

To investigate the physiologic role of gelsolin in cells, we have studied the location and mobility of gelsolin in a mouse fibroblast cell line (C3H). Gelsolin was localized by immunofluorescence of fixed and permeabilized cells and by fluorescent analog cytochemistry of living cells and cells that were fixed and/or permeabilized. Overall, the images show that in living cells gelsolin has a diffuse cytoplasmic distribution, but in fixed cells a minor fraction is associated with regions of the cell that are rich in actin filaments. The latter fraction is more prominent after permeabilization of the fixed cells because some diffuse gelsolin is not fixed and is therefore lost during permeabilization, confirmed by immunoblots. To determine quantitatively whether gelsolin is bound to actin filaments in living cells, we measured the mobility of microinjected fluorescent gelsolin by fluorescence photobleaching recovery. Gelsolin is fully mobile with a diffusion coefficient similar to that of control proteins. As a positive control, fluorescent phalloidin, which binds actin filaments, is totally immobile. These results are supported by immunoblots on cells permeabilized with detergent. All the endogenous gelsolin is extracted, and the half-time for the extraction is approximately 5 s, which is about the rate predicted for diffusion. Therefore, gelsolin is not tightly bound to actin filaments in cells. The most likely interpretation of the difference between living and fixed cells is that fixation traps a fraction of gelsolin that is associated with actin filaments in short-lived complexes.


1973 ◽  
Vol 29 (02) ◽  
pp. 490-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroh Yamazaki ◽  
Itsuro Kobayashi ◽  
Tadahiro Sano ◽  
Takio Shimamoto

SummaryThe authors previously reported a transient decrease in adhesive platelet count and an enhancement of blood coagulability after administration of a small amount of adrenaline (0.1-1 µg per Kg, i. v.) in man and rabbit. In such circumstances, the sensitivity of platelets to aggregation induced by ADP was studied by an optical density method. Five minutes after i. v. injection of 1 µg per Kg of adrenaline in 10 rabbits, intensity of platelet aggregation increased to 115.1 ± 4.9% (mean ± S. E.) by 10∼5 molar, 121.8 ± 7.8% by 3 × 10-6 molar and 129.4 ± 12.8% of the value before the injection by 10”6 molar ADP. The difference was statistically significant (P<0.01-0.05). The above change was not observed in each group of rabbits injected with saline, 1 µg per Kg of 1-noradrenaline or 0.1 and 10 µg per Kg of adrenaline. Also, it was prevented by oral administration of 10 mg per Kg of phenoxybenzamine or propranolol or aspirin or pyridinolcarbamate 3 hours before the challenge. On the other hand, the enhancement of ADP-induced platelet aggregation was not observed in vitro, when 10-5 or 3 × 10-6 molar and 129.4 ± 12.8% of the value before 10∼6 molar ADP was added to citrated platelet rich plasma (CPRP) of rabbit after incubation at 37°C for 30 second with 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10 or 100 µg per ml of adrenaline or noradrenaline. These results suggest an important interaction between endothelial surface and platelets in connection with the enhancement of ADP-induced platelet aggregation by adrenaline in vivo.


Author(s):  
Philip Isett

This chapter presents the equations and calculations for energy approximation. It establishes the estimates (261) and (262) of the Main Lemma (10.1) for continuous solutions; these estimates state that we are able to accurately prescribe the energy that the correction adds to the solution, as well as bound the difference between the time derivatives of these two quantities. The chapter also introduces the proposition for prescribing energy, followed by the relevant computations. Each integral contributing to the other term can be estimated. Another proposition for estimating control over the rate of energy variation is given. Finally, the coarse scale material derivative is considered.


Metahumaniora ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 378
Author(s):  
Vincentia Tri Handayani

AbstrakFolklor yang menghasilkan tradisi lisan merupakan perwujudan budaya yang lahirdari pengalaman kelompok masyarakat. Salah satu bentuk tradisi lisan adalah ungkapan yangmengandung unsur budaya lokal dalam konstruksinya yang tidak dimiliki budaya lainnya.Ungkapan idiomatis memberikan warna pada bahasa melalui penggambaran mental. Dalambahasa Perancis, ungkapan dapat berupa locution dan expression. Perbedaan motif acuansuatu ungkapan dapat terlihat dari pengaruh budaya masyarakat pengguna bahasa. Sebuahleksem tidak selalu didefinisikan melalui unsur minimal, tidak juga melalui kata-kata,baik kata dasar atau kata kompleks, namun dapat melalui kata-kata beku yang maknanyatetap. Hubungan analogis dari makna tambahan yang ada pada suatu leksem muncul dariidentifikasi semem yang sama. Semem tersebut mengarah pada term yang diasosiasikan danyang diperkaya melalui konteks (dalam ungkapan berhubungan dengan konteks budaya).Kata kunci: folklor, ungkapan, struktur, makna idiomatis, kebudayaanAbstractFolklore which produces the oral tradition is a cultural manifestation born out theexperience of community groups. One form of the oral tradition is a phrase that containsthe elements of local culture in its construction that is not owned the other culture. Theidiomatic phrase gives the color to the language through the mental representation. InFrench, the expression can consist of locution and expression. The difference motivesreference of an expression can be seen from the influence of the cultural community thelanguage users. A lexeme is not always defined through a minimal element, nor throughwords, either basic or complex words, but can be through the frost words whose meaningsare fixed. The analogical connection of the additional meanings is on a lexeme arises fromthe identification of the same meaning. The meaning ‘semem’ leads to the associated termsand which are enriched through the context (in idiom related to the cultural context).Keywords : folklore, idioms, structure, idiom meaning, cultureI PENDAHULUAN


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