How Cells Deal with Osmosis Most cells are isotonic, so they don’t have to deal with osmosis causing problems Cells that are NOT in isotonic environments have evolved ways to deal with osmosis: Contractile Vacuole: special vacuole attached to cell membrane that allows water to be pumped out of the cell when full

How Cells Deal with Osmosis 2) Solute Pumps: pumps excess solute particles out This causes the ratio of water to solute to balance out 3) Cell Wall: hard structure that stops the cell from exploding a) Water goes into cell, expanding the vacuole b) Vacuole and membrane pushes out, stopping water flow into cell c) Turgor Pressure: pressure of cell membrane on cell wall, keeping plants upright

How Cells Deal with Osmosis Problems: Cells without these 3 methods to control osmosis may experience the following problems: a) Cells in a hypertonic solution will shrivel up - Plants will wilt due to low turgor pressure - Called Plasmolysis b) Cells in a hypotonic solution will expand and possibly burst - Called Cytolysis