Body water

moles, osmoles and movement

Gravity Inertia

Diffusion Osmosis
Osmosis

so so

lu

lu
te te

equilibrium addition of solute new equilibrium

Isotonic Hypotonic

Diffusion

so
lu

te

equilibrium addition of solute new equilibrium

 Diffusion Osmosis
movement of solute movement of water from
from high concentration low solute concentration
to low concentration to high concentration

membranes must be membranes must be

permeable to the impermeable to the
solute solute

intracellular compartment extracellular compartment

K+ Na+

ATP
3 Na+ 2 K+
AMP

urea urea

water water

extracellular compartment
interstitial compartment plasma compartment

protein

protein

RBCs

K+ K+
Na+ Na+

urea urea

water water
 intracellular extracellular compartment
compartment interstitial compartment plasma compartment

osmolality = osmolality = osmolality

CSF has the

same osmolality
as plasma

vomit has the

same osmolality
as plasma
gallbladder fluid
is the same
osmolality as
plasma

the osmolality
in the foot is
the same as…

the osmolality
in the brain
 …but not semen.
it is hypertonic.

The exception is
the kidney and
GU tract.

From the tip of the loop of Henle to the toilet bowl the GU
epithelial is impermeable to water (unless unlocked by ADH).
There are two implications of the entire body being divided
by water permeable membranes:

the osmolality of the body is the

same through out the body

the size of the various compartments

is determined by the number of
osmoles in the compartment