Chapter 8 – Osmotic Stress
Introduction
Understanding osmotic stress is of utmost importance because it is frequently encountered by organisms in aquatic environments. In addition, almost all cells are in an aqueous (water-based) environment, such as the red blood cells (Figure 8.1) and most other cells in our own bodies. Osmotic stress is caused by a dramatic shift in osmotic pressure in a cell’s environment, and has the ability to dramatically alter the structure of a cell, as seen in Figure 8.1. Although environments with unbalanced ion concentrations have the potential to create significant consequences, there are numerous strategies cells have evolved to sense and combat osmotic stress under different conditions.
Chapter Outline
8.1 Challenges Associated with Osmotic Stress