Talk:Hypertonic

Untitled
Wouldn't a higher concentration of solutes cause water to flow out of the cytoplasm, rather than out of the (rest of the) cell? This would agree with the statement that the concentration in the cytoplasm becomes high enough to impair its function. - Molinari 05:51 4 Jul 2003 (UTC)


 * No, a higher concentration of solutes in the cytoplasm will cause water to flow into the cytoplasm, since osmosis causes water to move toward the higher concentration of solutes in order to balance it out. I have corrected the statement. AndyZ 20:33, 21 November 2005 (UTC)


 * I thought Molinari meant: "Wouldn't a higher concentration of solutes (outside the cell) cause water to flow out of the cytoplasm", which is correct. But nevermind, since the article is also correct.203.218.234.235 16:05, 12 January 2006 (UTC)


 * The article only talks about an environment being hypertonic, leaving open the question of whether a cell can be hypertonic. If not perhaps that should be mentioned; if it can, a brief explanation of that would be helpful.  I think the article is a little confusing in its phrasing.  Not sure exactly how to go about fixing it though.  User: Kengwen 00:04 26 Oct 2006 (PDT)


 * Hi, I thought this segment might need some corrections: "A solution which has a higher concentration of solutes than that in a cell is said to be hypotonic. This solution has more solute particles and, therefore, relatively less water than the cell contents." I think the first sentence should read hypertonic, unless I've misunderstood it... Darielab

Disambiguation necessary
Hypertonic can also refer to a muscle that is over-excited. Perhaps we need a disambiguation page for hypertonic (biology) and hypertonic (physiology), or maybe they are related? Rhetth 15:00, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Tonicity - Osmolarity ? !
Tonicity and osmolarity are not exactly the same thing. "Osmolarity is defined on the basis of an ideal osmometer - one in which the osmotic membrane allows water to pass but completely prevents the solute from passing." "In contrast, tonicity is defined in terms of the response of cells or tissues immersed in a solution. A solution is considered to be isotonic with a given cell or tissue immersed in it shrinks nor swells..." Osmolarity refers to solutions in compartments divided by a semipermeable membrane, while tonicity refers to cells or tissues and their behaviour (shrinking or swelling) in a solution. Myrmeleon formicarius 22:59, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Rewrite?
The article is horribly confusing, so I added the tag. I think it needs to be rewritten because it is an important concept. As an example, the intro section defines "hypertonic" twice, which seems redundant: "In biology, a hypertonic cell environment has a higher concentration of solutes than inside the animal or plant cell." and "A solution which has a higher concentration of solutes than that in a cell is said to be hypertonic." I can try to rewrite it when I have some time... --Kshieh 21:41, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 18:36, 29 April 2016 (UTC)