Valerie Gayle De la Cruz

BSN I

BODY FLUIDS

Introduction:
The human body needs supply of nutrients in order for it to function nomally.
Nutrientsare usually located outside of the body and are only taken in as food.
Food is thenconverted to tiny molecules which can be absorbed and transported
towards the cell.Fluids in the body thus serve as the transport mechanism of
nutrients going inside andoutside the cell. If an ordinary man weighs about 70
kilograms, his fluid content in thebody is about 40 liters or 57% to 60% of his total
body weight and the remaining 40% ofhis weight is either gas or solid materials.
All biochemical processes in the body are all under osmotic equilibrium. However,
there are several factors which may affect and change this. Therefore, they may
cause a shift and fluid movements between the extracellular and the intracellular
component.Osmosis is the resulting factor of movement between the two
components-the intracellular and the extracellular components of different
concentrations which are thenseparated by a thin lipid membrane.

Materials:
In order to perform the activity, the following materials were needed. Four pieces
of clean glass slides, tissue paper, Volunteer for blood extraction, 10% NaCl,
0.9%NaCl, and water.
Methods:
In preparation: Take the 4 pieces of clean glass slides and wipe them using tissue
paper.Then label each glass slide with 10% NaCl, 0.9%NaCl, and water.
Heat gently the other side of each of the glass slide to disinfect and remove the
greasethat might be present in the slides. Hold on the edges of the slides so as to
prevent contamination. Then place the glass slides on the table, face up on the
portion that hasbeen heated. After that, prepare for blood extraction.In blood
extraction: Prepare a volunteer for blood extraction. Make him relax and
becomfortable. Then Disinfect the ring finger of the volunteer with cotton soaked
in 70% isopopyl alcohol. Clean from inside going outside.Hold the ring finger and
using the sterile lancet, prick the ring finger.
Results and Discusison
By performing the said experiment, we have described the net movement of fluids by means of
osmosis. We have also determined the effects of hypertonic solution, hypotonic solution and
isotonic solution on the red blood cells we have extracted from our volunteer classmate. In the
hypertonic solution (10% NaCl) , the blood shrinks because of the osmotic pressure inside the
red blood cells. In the hypotonic solution, (H2O), the water penetrates causing the red blood cells
to swell and potentially burst. In isotonic solution (0.9% NaCl) nothing happened in the blood.
Therefore, the red blood cells are normal.

Conclusion
The observation we have has several practical implementations. Blood should stored in a plasma
solution which has the correct proportion of salts and proteins. When the osmotic pressure
outside the red blood cells is the same as the pressure inside the cells, the solution is isotonic
with respect to the cytoplasm. This the usual condition of the red blood cells the plasma. When
the osmotic pressure of the solution outside the red blood cells is higher than the osmotic
pressure inside the red blood cells, the solution is hypertonic. The water inside the blood cells
exits the cell in an attempt to equalize the osmotic pressure, causing the cell to shrink. But when
the solution outside the red blood cells has a lower osmotic pressure than the cytoplasm of the
cell, the solution is hypotonic. The cell takes in water in an attempt to equalize the osmotic
pressure, causing them to swell and potentially burst.