Osmolyte

Osmolytes are compounds affecting osmosis.[1] They are soluble in the solution within a cell, or in the surrounding fluid, e.g. as plasma osmolytes. They play a role in maintaining cell volume and fluid balance. For example, when a cell swells due to external osmotic pressure, membrane channels open and allow efflux of osmolytes which carry water with them, restoring normal cell volume.[2] Osmolytes also contributes to protein folding.[3] Natural osmolytes that can act as osmoprotectants include trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), dimethylsulfoniopropionate, trimethylglycine, sarcosine, betaine, glycerophosphorylcholine, myo-inositol, taurine, glycine, and others.[4][5] Bacteria accumulate osmolytes for protection against a high osmotic environment.[6] The osmolytes will be neutral non-electrolytes, except in bacteria that can tolerate salts.[5] In humans, osmolytes are of particular importance in the renal medulla.[7] Current understanding of osmolytes have been used to calculate the maximum depth where a fish can survive at 26,900 feet (8,200 meters).[8]

References

  1. ↑ everythingbio.com
  2. ↑ Review of Medical Physiology, William F. Ganong, McGraw-Hill Medical, ISBN 978-0-07-144040-0.
  3. ↑ Bolen DW1, Baskakov IV (2001). "The osmophobic effect: natural selection of a thermodynamic force in protein folding". Journal of Molecular Biology 310 (5): 955–963. doi:10.1006/jmbi.2001.4819. PMID 11502004.
  4. ↑ Neuhofer, W.; Beck, F. X. (2006). "Survival in Hostile Environments: Strategies of Renal Medullary Cells". Physiology 21 (3): 171–180. doi:10.1152/physiol.00003.2006. PMID 16714475.
  5. 1 2 Arakawa T, Timasheff SN (1985). "The stabilization of proteins by osmolytes" (PDF). Biophysical Journal 47 (3): 411–414. doi:10.1016/s0006-3495(85)83932-1. PMC 1435219. PMID 3978211.
  6. ↑ Csonka LN (1989). "Physiological and genetic responses of bacteria to osmotic stress". Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews 53 (1): 121–147. PMC 372720. PMID 2651863.
  7. ↑ Gallazzini, M.; Burg, M. B. (2009). "What's New About Osmotic Regulation of Glycerophosphocholine". Physiology 24 (4): 245–249. doi:10.1152/physiol.00009.2009. PMC 2943332. PMID 19675355.
  8. ↑ http://www.pnas.org/content/111/12/4461/

Further reading


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