Membrane Transport of Water

- 10% through passive diffusion thru lipid membrane

- 90% through aquaporins
o Facilitated diffusion

Aquaporins
- Intrinsic protein containing four identical monomer subunits
o Each monomer consists of a pair of identical membrane-spanning
polypeptides
o Each peptide has an outside loop that forms a hemi-pore by itself and central
pore when crossed with another hemi-pore
 Thus each aquaporin complex has four transmembrane pores
o Ten known mammalian variations of aquaporins exist
 Aquaporin-1 (AQP1) is in most cell types
• Provides rapid flux of water for maintenance of
transmembrane equilibrium

Qualitative Factors Regulating Transmembrane Flux of Water

- Osmosis is flow of water down its concentration gradient across a semi-permeable
membrane
o Osmolytes are solute particles which membrane is impermeable to
o Things like Cl- must maintain same concentration as Na+ in order to maintain
electroneutrality
- Pure water has molality of 55.5moles/kg
- Osmosis vs. Simple Diffusion
o In diffusion membrane is permeable to solutes
- Osmotic pressure is measured as counter to hydrostatic pressure required to prevent
movement of water down its concentration gradient
o Depends on number of particles & degree of assiociation between particles

Quantitative Factors Regulating the Transmembrane Flux of Water

- van’t Hoff Equation
o
 Pi = osmotic pressure
 n = # of particles formed per solute molecule upon dissociation
 R = gas constant
 T = absolute temp
 Csolute = molar concentration difference for all of the impermeable
solute molecules (moles/liter of solution)
- Osmotic Coeffiecient (Φ)
o Factor that takes into account the extent of aggragation of solute particles in
solution
- Osmolar concentration – Csolute(osmolar)
o Csolute(osmolar) = (Φ*n*Csolute)
 o In a cell the intracellular osmolar concentration must be 286 mosmolar or 290
moosmolal
- Tonicity
o Hypertonic solutions have a greater osmolyte concentration than the
cytoplasm
 Leads to efflux of water
o Hypotonic solution has a lower osmolyte concentration than the cytoplasm
 Leads to efflux and lysis
Transcellular Flux of Water
- Transcellular hydrostatic pressure differences can lead to transcellular flow of
solvent
o Q = K*∆P
 K is transcellular filtration coefficient
 Relates to:
• Ease of movement of water molecules through 2 cell
membranes and cytoplas
• Effective surface area available for water movement
- Cells cannot support pressure differentials because their walls are too weak
- Water can flow up its concentration gradient due to pressure differentials
o Called Ultrafiltration or Reverse Osmosis

Isosmotic vs. Isotonic

- Isosmotic means same osmotic concentration inside and outside
- Isotonic means membrane is impermeable?