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. 1956 Nov 20;40(2):183–199. doi: 10.1085/jgp.40.2.183

THE FREEZING POINT DEPRESSION OF MAMMALIAN TISSUES IN RELATION TO THE QUESTION OF OSMOTIC ACTIVITY OF CELL FLUID

William A Brodsky 1, Johannes W Appelboom 1, Warren H Dennis 1, Warren S Rehm 1, John F Miley 1, Israel Diamond 1
PMCID: PMC2147618  PMID: 13385447

Abstract

The freezing point depression of freshly excised frozen tissues, pulverized in a hydraulic press or in a mortar, is greater than that of plasma. Even at 0°C. the freezing point depression of such homogenates increases significantly with time. Dilution data indicate that such freezing point data are valid. The presence of intact cells has been shown in smears of tissues pulverized in a mortar, but not in smears of those crushed in a hydraulic press. The osmolarity of various diluent solutions affects the calculated osmotic activity of tissue homogenates presumably because of delayed diffusion between the diluent and cell fluid. With a hypertonic NaCl diluent, spuriously low values of tissue osmotic activity are found from calculations assuming instantaneous mixing between homogenates and diluents. The limitations of data from cryoscopic experiments and from tissue-swelling experiments are discussed in relation to the basic question of whether or not cell fluid is isotonic to extracellular fluid.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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