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Related Concept Videos

Tonicity in Animals01:16

Tonicity in Animals

4.6K
Tonicity describes the amount of solute in a solution. The measure of the tonicity of a solution, or the total amount of solutes dissolved in a specific amount of solution, is called its osmolarity. Three terms—hypotonic, isotonic, and hypertonic—are used to relate the osmolarity of a cell to the osmolarity of the extracellular fluid that contains the cells. In a hypotonic solution, such as tap water, the extracellular fluid has a lower concentration of solutes than the fluid inside...
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Transcellular Transport of Solutes01:23

Transcellular Transport of Solutes

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Transcellular transport of solutes is the movement of substances like monosaccharides and amino acids through polarized cells. This transport mechanism is primarily seen in epithelial and endothelial cells aided by membrane transport proteins such as channels and transporters. The tight junctions between these cells confine the membrane proteins to the two sides of the cell. The epithelial cells have distinct apical and basolateral domains. In contrast, the endothelial cells show the luminal...
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Fluid Movement Between Compartments01:18

Fluid Movement Between Compartments

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The force applied by fluids against a surface, known as hydrostatic pressure, initiates the transfer of fluid among different compartments. Within our blood vessels, the blood's hydrostatic pressure is a result of the heart's pumping action. At the arteriolar end of capillaries, hydrostatic pressure (capillary blood pressure) exceeds the opposing colloid osmotic pressure created primarily by plasma proteins like albumin. This discrepancy in pressure propels plasma and nutrients from the...
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Osmosis01:30

Osmosis

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Osmosis is the movement of free water molecules through a semipermeable membrane.  The water's concentration gradient across the membrane is inversely proportional to the solutes' concentration. Whereas diffusion transports material across membranes and within cells, osmosis transports only water across a membrane, and the membrane limits the diffusion of solutes in the water. Osmosis is a special case of diffusion.
Water, like other substances, moves from a high concentration of...
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Tonicity in Plants00:53

Tonicity in Plants

55.4K
Tonicity describes the capacity of a cell to lose or gain water. It depends on the quantity of solute that does not penetrate the membrane. Tonicity delimits the magnitude and direction of osmosis and results in three possible scenarios that alter the volume of a cell: hypertonicity, hypotonicity, and isotonicity. Due to differences in structure and physiology, tonicity of plant cells is different from that of animal cells in some scenarios.
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Plasmodesmata02:32

Plasmodesmata

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The organs in a multicellular organism’s body are made up of tissues formed by cells. To work together cohesively, cells must communicate. One way that cells communicate is through direct contact with other cells. The points of contact that connect adjacent cells are called intercellular junctions.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 27, 2025

Mechanical Stimulation-induced Calcium Wave Propagation in Cell Monolayers: The Example of Bovine Corneal Endothelial Cells
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Mechanical Stimulation-induced Calcium Wave Propagation in Cell Monolayers: The Example of Bovine Corneal Endothelial Cells

Published on: July 16, 2013

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Intercellular water exchanges trigger soliton-like waves in multicellular systems.

Yuehua Yang1, Hongyuan Jiang1

  • 1CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, CAS Center for Excellence in Complex System Mechanics, Department of Modern Mechanics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China.

Biophysical Journal
|April 8, 2022
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Osmotic shocks can trigger self-sustained cell oscillations and generate non-decrementing waves, analogous to excitable media. This novel mechanism of wave generation is driven by intercellular water flow and osmotic gradients in living systems.

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A Microfluidic System with Surface Patterning for Investigating Cavitation Bubble(s)–Cell Interaction and the Resultant Bioeffects at the Single-cell Level
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Shock Wave Application to Cell Cultures
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Shock Wave Application to Cell Cultures

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Last Updated: Sep 27, 2025

Mechanical Stimulation-induced Calcium Wave Propagation in Cell Monolayers: The Example of Bovine Corneal Endothelial Cells
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Mechanical Stimulation-induced Calcium Wave Propagation in Cell Monolayers: The Example of Bovine Corneal Endothelial Cells

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A Microfluidic System with Surface Patterning for Investigating Cavitation Bubble(s)–Cell Interaction and the Resultant Bioeffects at the Single-cell Level
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Shock Wave Application to Cell Cultures
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Shock Wave Application to Cell Cultures

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Area of Science:

  • Cellular Biology
  • Biophysics
  • Systems Biology

Background:

  • Spatiotemporal patterns and oscillations are common in cellular systems, typically explained by mechanochemical feedbacks.
  • Cells are complex open systems allowing passive and active transport of water and ions across their membranes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate a novel mechanism for wave generation in living cells.
  • To explore the role of osmotic shocks and intercellular water exchange in creating cellular oscillations and waves.

Main Methods:

  • Subjecting cells to osmotic shocks above a defined threshold.
  • Observing and analyzing self-sustained cell oscillations and wave propagation.
  • Quantifying wave speed in relation to intercellular water flow and osmotic pressure gradients.

Main Results:

  • Osmotic shocks exceeding a threshold induce self-sustained cell oscillations.
  • These oscillations generate long-range, non-decrementing waves, similar to excitable media.
  • Wave propagation speed correlates with intercellular water flow magnitude.
  • Observed waves exhibit characteristics of solitary waves.

Conclusions:

  • A new mechanism for wave generation in living multicellular systems, driven by osmotic shocks and water exchange, has been identified.
  • This osmotic shock-induced wave generation may be a widespread phenomenon due to the prevalence of intercellular water transport.