Extrapontine osmotic myelinolysis

Extrapontine osmotic myelinolysis is a rare nervous system complication. Symptoms of this malady were presented during the clinical examination of a 49-year-old alcoholic male, who arrived at the hospital emergency room in a state of cardiorespiratory arrest. After resuscitation methods were applied, the patient was found in metabolic acidosis (pH 7.014) and was treated with sodium bicarbonate. Forty-eight hours later, sodium levels in the patient had risen from 142 to 174 mEq/l. During the period of clinical observation, the patient showed signs of cognitive impairment, disartria, bilateral amaurosis, hyporeflexia and right-half body hemiparesias. After 72 hours, computer tomography was applied; this showed a bilateral lenticular hypodensity with internal and external capsule compromise. One month later, when the patient was referred to another institution for rehabilitation, the patient showed cognitive impairment, bilateral optic atrophy, residual disartria, bradikynesia and double hemiparesia.     

Cardiolipin and the osmotic stress responses of bacteria

Cells control their own hydration by accumulating solutes when they are exposed to high osmolality media and releasing solutes in response to osmotic down-shocks. Osmosensory transporters mediate solute accumulation and mechanosensitive channels mediate solute release. Escherichia coli serves as a paradigm for studies of cellular osmoregulation. Growth in media of high salinity alters the phospholipid headgroup and fatty acid compositions of bacterial cytoplasmic membranes, in many cases increasing the ratio of anionic to zwitterionic lipid. In E. coli, the proportion of cardiolipin (CL) increases as the proportion of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) decreases when osmotic stress is imposed with an electrolyte or a non-electrolyte. Osmotic induction of the gene encoding CL synthase (cls) contributes to these changes. The proportion of phosphatidylglycerol (PG) increases at the expense of PE in cls⁻ bacteria and, in Bacillus subtilis, the genes encoding CL and PG synthases (clsA and pgsA) are both osmotically regulated. CL is concentrated at the poles of diverse bacterial cells. A FlAsH-tagged variant of osmosensory transporter ProP is also concentrated at E. coli cell poles. Polar concentration of ProP is CL-dependent whereas polar concentration of its paralogue LacY, a H⁺-lactose symporter, is not. The proportion of anionic lipids (CL and PG) modulates the function of ProP in vivo and in vitro. These effects suggest that the osmotic induction of CL synthesis and co-localization of ProP with CL at the cell poles adjust the osmolality range over which ProP activity is controlled by placing it in a CL-rich membrane environment. In contrast, a GFP-tagged variant of mechanosensitive channel MscL is not concentrated at the cell poles but anionic lipids bind to a specific site on each subunit of MscL and influence its function in vitro. The sub-cellular locations and lipid dependencies of other osmosensory systems are not known. Varying CL content is a key element of osmotic adaptation by bacteria but much remains to be learned about its roles in the localization and function of osmoregulatory proteins.     

Glycoprotein effect on the osmotic permeability of liposomes

• 1.1. Proteoliposomes with incorporated α₁-acid glycoprotein were found to be osmotically sensitive to alkali metal salts.
• 2.2. The apparent permeabilities of monovalent metal cations were determined. They were compared with those of pure liposomes in the presence of amphoterecin B.
• 3.3. It was found that proteoliposomes showed a selective permeability to K⁺ in spite of the fact that pure liposomes in the presence of amphotericin B are more permeable to Rb⁺.
• 4.4. It was assumed that this difference arises apparently from the modification of lecithin bilayer in the presence of glycoprotein molecule.

     

Application of the osmotic virial equation in cryobiology

The multisolute osmotic virial equation is the only multisolute thermodynamic solution theory that has been derived from first principles and can make predictions of multisolute solution behaviour in the absence of multisolute solution data. Other solution theories either (i) include simplifying assumptions that do not take into account the interactions between different types of solute molecules or (ii) require fitting to multisolute data to obtain empirical parameters. The osmotic virial coefficients, which are obtained from single-solute data, can be used to make predictions of multisolute solution osmolality. The osmotic virial coefficients for a range of solutes of interest in cryobiology are provided in this paper, for use with concentration units of both molality and mole fraction, along with an explanation of the background and theory necessary to implement the multisolute osmotic virial equation.     

An osmotic model of the growing pollen tube

Pollen tube growth is central to the sexual reproduction of plants and is a longstanding model for cellular tip growth. For rapid tip growth, cell wall deposition and hardening must balance the rate of osmotic water uptake, and this involves the control of turgor pressure. Pressure contributes directly to both the driving force for water entry and tip expansion causing thinning of wall material. Understanding tip growth requires an analysis of the coordination of these processes and their regulation. Here we develop a quantitative physiological model which includes water entry by osmosis, the incorporation of cell wall material and the spreading of that material as a film at the tip. Parameters of the model have been determined from the literature and from measurements, by light, confocal and electron microscopy, together with results from experiments made on dye entry and plasmolysis in Lilium longiflorum. The model yields values of variables such as osmotic and turgor pressure, growth rates and wall thickness. The model and its predictive capacity were tested by comparing programmed simulations with experimental observations following perturbations of the growth medium. The model explains the role of turgor pressure and its observed constancy during oscillations; the stability of wall thickness under different conditions, without which the cell would burst; and some surprising properties such as the need for restricting osmotic permeability to a constant area near the tip, which was experimentally confirmed. To achieve both constancy of pressure and wall thickness under the range of conditions observed in steady-state growth the model reveals the need for a sensor that detects the driving potential for water entry and controls the deposition rate of wall material at the tip.     

Measurement of tissue osmotic pressure

Osmotic pressure measured by a modified pressure-volume method was compared with that of the mixed sap expressed from frozen and thawed tissue. The error in the latter technique averaged 11 and 16% (too dilute) for greenhouse and field leaves of Zea mays L. at all growth stages. These errors were not consistently calculated by a model of simple mixing between the matric and osmotic fractions, both of which decreased with plant age. Some other alternatives to the pressure-volume method are discussed which are based on a more rapid estimate of the zero turgor point.     

The evolutionary significance of the osmotic pressure of the blood

Ohne Zusammenfassung

---

The evolutionary significance of the osmotic pressure of the blood

     

Photosynthesis under osmotic stress

The reversibility of the inhibition of photosynthetic reactions by water stress was examined with four systems of increasing complexity—stromal enzymes, intact chloroplasts, mesophyll protoplasts, and leaf slices. The inhibition of soluble chloroplast enzymes by high solute concentrations was instantly relieved when solutes were properly diluted. In contrast, photosynthesis was not restored but actually more inhibited when isolated chloroplasts exposed to hypertonic stress were transferred to conditions optimal for photosynthesis of unstressed chloroplasts. Upon transfer, chloroplast volumes increased beyond the volumes of unstressed chloroplasts, and partial envelope rupture occurred. In protoplasts and leaf slices, considerable and rapid, but incomplete restoration of photosynthesis was observed during transfer from hypertonic to isotonic conditions. Chloroplast envelopes did not rupture in situ during water uptake. It is concluded that inhibition of photosynthesis by severe water stress is at the biochemical level brought about in part by reversible inhibition of chloroplast enzymes and in part by membrane damage which requires repair mechanisms for reversibility. Both soluble enzymes and membranes appear to be affected by the increased concentration of internal solutes, which is caused by dehydration.