• Source: Cytolysis

Cytolysis, or osmotic lysis, occurs when a cell bursts due to an osmotic imbalance that has caused excess water to diffuse into the cell. Water can enter the cell by diffusion through the cell membrane or through selective membrane channels called aquaporins, which greatly facilitate the flow of water. It occurs in a hypotonic environment, where water moves into the cell by osmosis and causes its volume to increase to the point where the volume exceeds the membrane's capacity and the cell bursts. The presence of a cell wall prevents the membrane from bursting, so cytolysis only occurs in animal and protozoa cells which do not have cell walls. The reverse process is plasmolysis.




In bacteria


Osmotic lysis would be expected to occur when bacterial cells are treated with a hypotonic solution with added lysozyme, which destroys the bacteria's cell walls.




Prevention


Different cells and organisms have adapted different ways of preventing cytolysis from occurring. For example, the paramecium uses a contractile vacuole, which rapidly pumps out excessive water to prevent the build-up of water and the otherwise subsequent lysis.




See also


Cell disruption
Crenation
Lysis
Osmotic pressure
Plasmolysis
Water intoxication




References



McClendon, Jesse Francis (1917). Physical Chemistry of Vital Phenomena. University of California: Princeton University Press. p. 240.

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Perforin
• Sistem imun bawaan
• Cytolysis
• Lysis
• Plasmolysis
• Humoral immunity
• Tonicity
• Cell (biology)
• Immunosuppressive drug
• Osmotic pressure
• Eosinophil
• Cytotoxic T cell