What happens when the concentration of salt molecules is lower outside the cell than inside

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Biology

Ayana Luna

6 December, 22:13

What happens when the concentration of salt molecules is lower outside the cell than inside

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Judith Hess · Answer 1

A scenario such as this often defines the extracellular fluid as being "hypertonic", simply meaning that the fluid surrounding the cell has a higher solute concentration than that of the cell. Hypertonicity would subsequently result in "crenation" of the cell. This means that in order to maintain equilibrium, the intracellular fluid rushes into the extracellular environment and the cell shrivels.