Intrinsic optical signals (IOSs) induced by synaptic stimulation and moderate hypotonic swelling in brain tissue slices consist of reduced light scattering and are usually attributed to cell swelling. During spreading depression (SD), however, light-scattering increases even though SD has been shown to cause strong cell swelling. To understand this phenomenon, we recorded extracellular voltage,...

Patterns of change in cell volume and plasma membrane phospholipid distribution during cell death are regarded as diagnostic means of distinguishing apoptosis from necrosis, the former being associated with cell shrinkage and early phosphatidylserine (PS) exposure, whereas necrosis is associated with cell swelling and consequent lysis. We demonstrate that cell volume regulation during lymphocyt...

We document the hygroscopic swelling and shrinkage of the central and the thickest secondary cell wall layer of wood (named S2) in response to changes in environmental humidity using synchrotron radiation-based phase contrast X-ray tomographic nanoscopy. The S2 layer is a natural fibre-reinforced nano-composite polymer and is strongly reactive to water. Using focused ion beam, micropillars with...

soil is known as the base material for many structure, on the other hand, some soils cause problems for some structures such as roads. some types of soils absorb moisture and swell then they may shrink when losing water. the changes of moisture in these soil samples cause changes their volume and pressure to layers of the pavement and eventually leads to destruction of roads. therefore, it is n...

We present a molecular-dynamics study of force patterns, tensile strength, and crack formation in a cohesive granular model where the particles are subjected to swelling or shrinkage gradients. Nonuniform particle size change generates self-equilibrated forces that lead to crack initiation as soon as the strongest tensile contacts begin to fail. We find that the tensile strength is well below t...

Previously, we reported that hyposmotic swelling evoked transient vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) contraction that was completely abolished by L-type Ca(2+) channel blockers. In contrast, sustained contraction revealed in hyper- and isoosmotically-shrunken SMCs was insensitive to L-type channel blockers and was diminished in Ca(2+)-free medium by only 30-50%. Several research groups reported ...