osmotic balance

(noun)

Osmoregulation is the active regulation of the osmotic pressure of an organism's fluids to maintain the homeostasis of the organism's water content; that is, it keeps the organism's fluids from becoming too diluted or too concentrated.

Related Terms

Examples of osmotic balance in the following topics:

  • Nonthermophilic Crenarchaeota

    • Special chlorine pumps allow the organisms to retain chloride to maintain osmotic balance with the salinity of their habitat.

  • Freshwater Environments

    • Although most aquatic organisms have a limited ability to regulate their osmotic balance and therefore can only live within a narrow range of salinity, diadromous fish have the ability to migrate between fresh water and saline water bodies.

  • Osmotic Pressure

    • The correct osmotic pressure in the culture medium is essential for the survival of the cells.
    • Osmoregulation is the homeostasis mechanism of an organism to reach balance in osmotic pressure.
    • Having the correct osmotic pressure in the culture medium is essential.

  • Natural Killer Cells

    • The granzymes then break down the target cell, inducing death by either apoptosis or osmotic cell lysis.
    • Natural killer cell activation is determined by the balance of inhibitory and activating receptor stimulation—for example, if the inhibitory receptor signaling is more prominent, then NK cell activity will be inhibited.

  • Osmotic Pressure

    • It is also defined as the minimum pressure needed to nullify osmosis.The phenomenon of osmotic pressure arises from the tendency of a pure solvent to move through a semi-permeable membrane and into a solution containing a solute to which the membrane is impermeable.
    • Removal of water and addition of salt to meat creates a solute-rich environment where osmotic pressure draws water out of microorganisms, thereby retarding their growth.

  • Mycoplasmas and Other Cell-Wall-Deficient Bacteria

    • Cell walls are unnecessary here because the cells only live in the controlled osmotic environment of other cells.
    • L-forms have varied shapes and are sensitive to osmotic shock .

  • The Cell Wall of Bacteria

    • A wall located outside the cell membrane provides the cell support, and protection against mechanical stress or damage from osmotic rupture and lysis .

  • Peptidoglycan Synthesis and Cell Division

    • Peptidoglycan serves a structural role in the bacterial cell wall giving it strength, as well as counteracting the osmotic pressure of the cytoplasm.

  • Type III (Immune Complex) Reactions

    • Because of the nature of the antibody aggregation, tissues that are associated with blood filtration at considerable osmotic and hydrostatic gradient (e.g. sites of urinary and synovial fluid formation, kidney glomeruli and joint tissues respectively) bear the brunt of the damage.

  • The Complement System

    • MAC is the cytolytic endproduct of the complement cascade; it forms a transmembrane channel, which causes osmotic lysis of the target cell.