Cells and their environment
Tonicity (root: tonic) Used to describe the environment around the cell. Environment can be: HYPERtonic = more solute HYPOtonic = less ISOtonic = same
Cell
Cell’s environment Solute = dissolved materials
Water Follows Solute
Cell swells. If the gradient is great enough, the cell will burst. Cell lysis = cell bursting = Hypotonic Environment
Crenation = cell shrinking = Hypertonic environment
Solute is equal inside and outside the cell.
Isotonic Environment