Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 14.2
Adolf Fick (1829
e
1901)
[61]
.
TABLE 14.1
The Relationship Between a Solute's Molecular Weight and its Diffusion Coefficient, D.
Compound
O
2
Acetyl choline
Sucrose
Serum albumin
D (cm
2
/s
10
6
)
19.8
5.6
2.4
0.7
Molecular Weight
32
182
342
69,000
from high to low potential (
Figure 14.3
)
[4]
. Osmotic pressure is the force required to
prevent water movement across the semi-permeable membrane. Net water movement
continues until its potential reaches zero. An early application of the basic principles of
osmosis came from the pioneering work on hemolysis of red blood cells byWilliamHewson
in the 1770s (see Chapter 2). It has also been discussed that MLVs (multilamellar vesicles,
liposomes) behave as almost perfect osmometers, swelling in hypotonic solutions and
shrinking in hypertonic solutions (see Chapter 3)
[5,6]
. Liposome swelling and shrinking
