The intervertebral disk has an excellent swelling capacity to absorb water, which is thought to be largely due to the high proteoglycan composition. Injury, aging, degeneration, and diurnal loading are all noted by a significant decrease in water content and tissue hydration. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of hydration, through osmotic loading, on tissue swelling and com...

A new type of biosensor is proposed that combines the recognition properties of "intelligent" hydrogels with the sensitivity and reliability of microfabricated pressure transducers. In the proposed device, analyte-induced changes in the osmotic swelling pressure of an environmentally responsive hydrogel are measured by confining it within a small implantable enclosure between a rigid semipermea...

-The crystalline and osmotic swelling of N~, Cs-, Mgand Ca-montmorillonite has been measured in dimethyl sulphoxide and in formamide, N-methyl formamide, dimethyl formamide, N-methyl acetamide and dimethyl acetamide. These liquids have similar dipole moments but their relative permittivities vary appreciably from values less than water to values greater than water. Na montmorillonite exhibits o...

1. The swelling and the osmotic pressure of gelatin at pH 4.7 have been measured in the presence of a number of salts. 2. The effect of the salts on the swelling is closely paralleled by the effect on the osmotic pressure, and the bulk modulus of the gelatin particles calculated from these figures is constant up to an increase in volume of about 800 per cent. As soon as any of the salts increas...

fresh semen obtained from infertile men occasionally exhibits the total absence of motile sperm (100%asthenozoospermia). vitality tests may reveal that a proportion of the immotile sperm has functional membranes, which are considered viable. an easy test for the prior determination of sperm viability may assist in sperm selection for the microinjection of oocytes. the main objective of this stu...

Swelling of mitochondria plays an important role in the pathogenesis of human diseases by stimulating mitochondria-mediated cell death through apoptosis, necrosis, and autophagy. Changes in the permeability of the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) of ions and other substances induce an increase in the colloid osmotic pressure, leading to matrix swelling. Modeling of mitochondrial swelling is i...

Acidification of the suspending medium of corn mitochondria (Zea mays L., WF9 x Mo17) from pH 7.5 to pH 6.8 to 6.4 initiates osmotic swelling with the transportable anions citrate, sulfate, and phosphate. Swelling becomes pronounced with a combination of citrate plus sulfate or phosphate. Acidification proves to activate endogenous respiration, which is essentially zero at pH 7.5. The endogenou...