Normal nervous system function is critically dependent on the balance of water and ions in the extracellular space (ECS). Pathological reduction in brain interstitial osmolarity results in osmotically-driven flux of water into cells, causing cellular edema which reduces the ECS and increases neuronal excitability and risk of seizures. Astrocytes are widely considered to be particularly suscepti...

A structural model of the in vivo cornea, which accounts for tissue swelling behaviour, for the three-dimensional organization of stromal fibres and for collagen-swelling interaction, is proposed. Modelled as a binary electrolyte gel in thermodynamic equilibrium, the stromal electrostatic free energy is based on the mean-field approximation. To account for active endothelial ionic transport in ...

The swelling of the corneal buttons in aqueous solution can be prevented by adding high molecular weight solutes to the bathing medium. In appropriate concentrations of these colloidal substances the button can be dehydrated, a matter of some significance in clinical situations. Swelling of the cornea in the intact eye in vitro can be similarly prevented. The suggestion is made that swelling is...

PURPOSE Intracellular osmotic stress is believed to be linked to the advancement of diabetic cataract. Although the accumulation of organic osmolytes (myo-inositol, sorbitol, taurine) is thought to protect the lens by maintaining osmotic homeostasis, the physiologic implication of osmotic imbalance (i.e., hyperosmotic stress caused by intracellular over-accumulation of organic osmolytes) on dia...

Background: Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) can be considered the solstice in vitro insemination technique because it has powerfully allowed the treatment of male factor infertility, but in this procedure, except visual morphological selection, there is no standardization for sperm selection. Recently, hypo osmotic swelling test (HOST) has been proposed to have the potential to select i...

The hypothesis that cellular hypertrophy in congestive heart failure (CHF) modulates mechanosensitive (ie, swelling- or stretch-activated) channels was tested. Digital video microscopy and amphotericin-perforated-patch voltage clamp were used to measure cell volume and ion currents in ventricular myocytes isolated from normal dogs and dogs with rapid ventricular pacing-induced CHF. In normal my...