The classical Voorn-Overbeek thermodynamic theory of complexation and phase separation of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes is generalized to account for the charge accessibility and hydrophobicity of polyions, size of salt ions, and pH variations. Theoretical predictions of the effects of pH and salt concentration are compared with published experimental data and experiments we performed, on...

Disorders of sodium and water metabolism are frequently encountered in hospitalized patients. Hyponatremia in critically ill patients can cause significant morbidity and mortality. Inappropriate treatment of hyponatremia can add to the problem. The diagnosis and management of salt and water abnormalities in critically ill patients is often challenging. The increasing knowledge about aquaporins ...

In 1935 Kerpel-Fronius (1) demonstrated in rabbits that there are two distinct types of dehydration, depending upon whether the condition is associated with (1) a primary loss of salt or (2) a shortage of water not accompanied by a corresponding loss of salt. He pointed out that the former is characterized by circulatory disturbances, while the latter is characterized by thirst. In a later pape...

The abiotic stresses of drought, salinity and freezing are linked by the fact that they all decrease the availability of water to plant cells. This decreased availability of water is quantified as a decrease in water potential. Plants resist low water potential and related stresses by modifying water uptake and loss to avoid low water potential, accumulating solutes and modifying the properties...

We tested the hypothesis that vascular macrophage infiltration and O2 (-) release impairs sympathetic nerve α2-adrenergic autoreceptor (α2AR) function in mesenteric arteries (MAs) of DOCA-salt hypertensive rats. Male rats were uninephrectomized or sham operated (sham). DOCA pellets were implanted subcutaneously in uninephrectomized rats who were provided high-salt drinking water or high-salt wa...

1. The writer had previously published the observation that if a salt solution made up in an acid solution (e.g. HCl) of a definite pH (e.g. 3.0) is separated by a collodion membrane from pure water containing the same acid of the same pH, acid is at first driven from the salt solution into the water, so that the pH of the latter becomes at first lower than that of the solution. 2. It is shown ...

Prehypertensive Dahl salt-sensitive rats on low sodium diet have impaired baroreceptor and cardiopulmonary receptor function as compared with Dahl salt-resistant control rats. We tested whether these abnormalities influenced the ability of conscious prehypertensive Dahl salt-sensitive rats to excrete a moderate intravenous isotonic saline volume load (0.9% NaCl, 3% body weight i.v.). During con...

Previously, we reported that 20% fructose diet causes salt-sensitive hypertension. In this study, we hypothesized that a high salt diet supplemented with 20% fructose (in drinking water) stimulates salt-sensitive hypertension by increasing salt retention through decreasing renal nitric oxide. Rats in metabolic cages consumed normal rat chow for 5 days (baseline), then either: (1) normal salt fo...