Question

What will happen if Red Blood Cells (RBC) is kept in a concentrated saline solution?
A. It will lose water and shrink
B. It will absorb water and swell
C. It will remain unaffected
D. None of the above

Answer 1

Hint: The tendency of an extracellular solution to transfer water into or out of a cell through osmosis is known as its tonicity. The tonicity of the solution is related to osmosis.

Complete Answer:
- Animal and plant cells are also surrounded by a membrane. Osmosis is the diffusion of water through the membrane. Water transitions from a high concentration to a lower concentration.
- It's really necessary for your body since it regulates the volume of water in your cells. Three terms hypotonic, isotonic, and hypertonic have been used to contrast the osmolarity of a cell with the osmolarity of the extracellular fluid surrounding it.
- When a cell is put in a hypertonic solution, the water leaves the cell and the cell shrinks. In the isotonic world, the concentration level of solute and water on both sides of the membrane are equal. There is no net flow in water because there is no change in the size of the cell.
- When a cell is put in a hypotonic environment, the water reaches the cell and the cell swells. If RBCs are held in a concentrated solution, it is said to be hypertonic since the water flows within the cell. This happens when the concentration of the solution is greater than the concentration of the inside of the cell, which allows RBC to shrink.

So, the correct option is A, it will lose water and shrink.

Note: Tonicity is a major issue for all living things, particularly those without rigid cell walls and living in hyper or hypotonic conditions. In the term, “hypertonic” hyper means greater than to the cell, and water will move out of the cell to the region of higher solute concentration.