WATER AND SOLUTIONS

M. ENG. ASTRID NAUSA GALEANO

WATER

The unique properties of water are due to its structure.

 Hydrogen Bonding
 Water is a hydride of oxygen. Highly electronegative oxygen atom attracts the bonding electrons from two
hydrogen atoms. Polar H — O bonds. Hydrogen atoms have a slightly positive charge (δ+) and the oxygen atom
has a slightly negative charge (δ-).
 Neighboring liquid water molecules interact with one another (attraction between δ- and δ+)
WATER

 Physical Properties
 Properties of water uniquely suited to biological systems include melting point, boiling point, heat of vaporization,
heat of fusion, specific heat, and surface tension.
 All these values for water are much higher than those for other low molecular weight substances, because of the
strong intermolecular hydrogen bonding of water.
 These properties contribute to maintenance of temperature and to dissipation of heat in living systems.
 Water plays a major role in thermoregulation in living systems.
 The optimal body temperature is a balance between heat production and heat dissipation. Impaired
thermoregulation causes either hypothermia or hyperthermia ,
MOVEMENT ACROSS BARRIERS

 Life is characterized as a nonequilibrium steady state. The body achieves homeostatic balance—but only by
expending energy derived from metabolism. Although the processes listed below appear different, they share
common features. Movement results from a driving force and is opposed by some aspect of resistance.
 Movement against a gradient requires energy. ATP is ultimately the source of energy used to move compounds
against a gradient. This is important, because after the gradients are created, the concentration gradients can serve
as a source of energy for other movement (e.g., secondary active transport and osmosis).
DILUTIONS

 Used to determine a physiologic volume that cannot be directly measured.

 Plasma volume can be estimated by adding a known amount of the dye Evans blue, which binds tightly to albumin
and remains mostly in the plasma space.
 After the dye distributes equally throughout the plasma volume, a plasma sample can be taken.
 The observed concentration of the sample, together with the amount of dye added, allows calculation of the
plasma volume
DILUTIONS

 The procedure is the same even if some of the marker is already present in the volume.
 The final concentration is subtracted from the starting concentration to determine the change in concentration
caused by adding the marker
DILUTIONS
 The indicator should be distributed only in the volume of interest.
 There must be sufficient time for the indicator to equilibrate so that all areas of the volume have an identical
concentration.
For estimation of plasma volume with Evans blue, some albumin is lost for the plasma volume over time, so an early
sampling is desirable (a plasma sample is drawn at 10 or 20 minutes after indicator injection)
 If the compound is already in the system, the term “change in amount” can be substituted for “amount” and “change in
concentration” can be substituted for “concentration.”
WATER

 Body water: about 60% of the total body weight.

 Selective barriers allow fluid compartments to
differ in composition of electrolytes and other
solutes - anatomic and functional spaces.
 ~ 2/3 of the body water is within the cells, called
“intracellular fluid.”
 ~ 1/3 is extracellular fluid: plasma, cerebrospinal
fluid, and the interstitial fluid that is between cells
WATER

 Barriers separate body fluid compartments.

 Changes in total body water first affect the plasma
volume.
 If the change in plasma volume causes a change in
plasma capillary pressure or plasma protein
concentration, the interstitial fluid volume will
change.
 If the change in extracellular fluid composition
causes a change in extracellular fluid osmolality,
there will be an osmotic equilibration with the cell
water volume.
WATER

 Most cells of the body have aquaporin water

channels, and consequently water can be
exchanged between the intracellular and
extracellular fluid compartments in response to
osmotic gradients.
 The exchange between plasma and interstitial fluid
is quite rapid, as is the exchange between cellular
and extracellular fluid.
 Some extracellular fluid compartments, however,
have a very slow exchange rate: aqueous humor of
the eye, cerebrospinal fluid, synovial fluid, and
extracellular fluid in bone and cartilage.
BARRIERS

 Can also restrict solute movement.

 The lipid bilayer of the cell membrane is impermeable
to charged molecules but will allow movement of
gases and other lipid soluble molecules.
 Ionic composition of the extracellular fluid can and
does differ markedly from the intracellular fluid.
 The capillary endothelial cells separate the plasma
volume from the remainder of the interstitial fluid.
 This barrier permits the exchange of ions and other
small molecules, and it restricts the movement of
highmolecular-weight proteins such as albumin.
WATER MOVEMENT

Water is transported across cell membranes

 Simple diffusion through the phospholipid
bilayer
 By the action of membrane-spanning
transport proteins known as aquaporins .
AQUAPORINS

 Water channels
 Integral membrane proteins that form pores in the
membrane of biological cells: facilitating transport of water
between cells.
 Bacteria, fungi, animal and plant cells contain aquaporins
through which water can flow more rapidly into and out of
the cell than by diffusing through the phospholipid bilayer.
 Has six membrane-spanning alpha helical domains with both
carboxylic and amino terminals on the cytoplasmic side.
 Hydrophobic loops contain conserved asparagine-proline-
alanine NPA motif.

Schematic diagram of the 2D structure of aquaporin 1 (AQP1) depicting the

six transmembrane alpha-helices and the five interhelical loop regions A-E
OSMOSIS

Water movement between body fluid compartments occurs in response to osmotic gradients

Osmotic movement of water requires

1. A semipermeable barrier that permits movement
of water but not the solute
2. A difference in the solute concentration across the
barrier.
 Cell membrane represents the semipermeable
barrier.
 Water can freely cross the cell membrane, but ions
such as Na+, K+, and Cl– and larger compounds
such as proteins cannot.
 Water movement will persist until the ionic
concentration inside the cell equals the ionic
concentration outside the cell.
OSMOSIS

Changes in extracellular fluid osmolarity (primarily changes in

extracellular Na+) determine the exchange between extracellular and
intracellular water.
 Normal erythrocyte intracellular osmolarity is 290 mOsm.
 A erythrocyte in a solution with an osmolarity > 290 mOsm will
cause water to exit the cell, and the cell will shrink (crenate).
 A erythrocyte in a solution with an osmolarity < 290 will cause the
water to enter into the cell. The cell will swell.
 A erythrocyte in a solution with an osmolality <199 mOsm will swell
and rupture (lyse)
WATER

 Renal and GI elimination are the major sources of body fluid loss.
 Under extreme heat load, sweat can also account for a significant fluid loss.