Studies on the physical state of water in living cells and model systems. VI. Concentration-dependent sustained volume changes of dialysis sacs containing aqueous solution of native and denatured protein, gelatin, and oxygen-containing polymers immersed in solutions of Na salt and of sugar and sugar alcohol

In this paper we studied the volume changes of dialysis sacs containing concentrated solutions of native and denatured proteins and of oxygen-containing polymers after immersion in aqueous solution of Na-citrate, D-glucose, and sorbitol of varying concentration. The results confirm the theory of cell volume regulation: volume changes of living cells in different solutions represent a balance between the tendency of intracellular proteins -- which exist in the fully extended conformation -- to polarize, sorb, and draw into the sac or cell more water and the opposite tendency to lose water from the sac or cell created by the lower level of the solutes in the cell or sac water than in the external medium. The lower level of the solutes is the consequence of the reduced solvency of the polarized water in the sac or cell water for large and complex solutes like sugar and free amino acids. This study adds another important physico-chemical attribute of the living cell that can be duplicated by aqueous solutions of gelatin, oxygen-containing polymers like PEO and PEG as well as urea-denatured proteins but not, or only weakly so, by aqueous solutions of native proteins or SDS-denatured proteins.