Lecture 4: Water and Ion Balance

Heterotherms: Animals capable of varying degrees of endothermic heat production.

 Temporal Heterotherms: Tb Varies over time
 Hibernation, Torpor (hummingbirds), Tb fluctuations during the day (camels)
 Regional Heterotherms: Different parts of the body at different temperatures.
 Ectotherms that can maintain core temperatures higher than ambient temperature (tune, large
sharks)
 Testes in some mammals (canines, humans)
 Counter-Current Heat Exchange: Between venules and arterioles maintains core temperature higher
than ambient temperature.
What is Thermostat?
 Mammalian body temperature can vary widely between the core and the extremities.
 Extremities much more variable!
 Temperature is sensed by nerve endings (thermoreceptors) in the brain, spinal cord, skin, and sites in
the core that provide information to thermostatic centers in the brain.
 The brain coordinates a systemic response to temperature challenges.
The Hypothalamus – The Mammal’s Thermostat:
 Henry G. Barbour (1912)
 Implanted a small temperature-controlled probe into different parts of the rabbit brain.
 Evoked strong thermoresponses only when used to heat or cool the hypothalamus.
 Cooling  Increases MR and TB
 Heating  Panting and Decreases TB
 Highly sensitive
 Hypothalamus integrates all of the temperature-related information and orchestrates the systemic
response.
 Temperature of hypothalamus most important.
The Integrator is in the Preoptic/Anterior Hypothalamus (PO/AH):
 Autonomic Nervous System: Vasotone, Metabolic Rate, Sweating
 Pituitary Gland/Endocrine System: Vasotone, Metabolic Rate
 Higher Brain Centers: Behavior
 Sensory Input (Thermal Receptors)
 Set Point (A certain temperature)
Fever:
 Hypothalamic thermoregulatory center is very sensitive to pyrogens (fever-producing substances).
 Pyrogens raise the set point in the hypothalamic thermoregulatory center.
 Exogenous Pyrogens: (Part of the invading organism)
 Polysaccharides produced by gram negative bacteria.
 Very potent
 Endogenous Pyrogens:
 Heat-labile proteins produced by the animal’s own leukocytes (white blood cells)
 Released in response to circulating exogenous pyrogens.
 Exogenous pyrogen raises body temperature both by:
 Acting directly hypothalamic thermoregulatory center and
 Indirectly by stimulating the release of endogenous pyrogens.
Water and Ion Balance (Osmolality and Body Volume):
What is the Basic Biological Need:
 All cells need to exist in an aqueous environment (Basic Principle #1)
  H2O and Salts (ions)—need to keep relatively constant
 Homeostasis, budget
 Tightly associated with temperature regulation.
 Evaporative cooling critical to maintaining Tb under conditions of high Tamb and/or high MR (e.g.,
during exercise).
Body Fluids (BF)—Compartmentalized:
 Intracellular Fluids (ICF) {hi K+}
 Extracellular Fluids (ECF) {hi Na+}
 Interstitial Fluids (IF)
 Plasma (liquid (non-cellular) portion of blood)
 Body Fluids (BF) = = ECF
Distribution of fluids in the Body (Human):
 40 L H2O (~ 60 kg person)
 25 L Intracellular Fluid (ICF)
o 2 L Red Blood Cells (RBCs)
o 23 L Other Cells
 15 L Extracellular Fluid (ECF)
o 3 L Plasma
o 12 L Interstitial Fluid (IF)
1. Most of the water is in the intracellular fluid compartment.
2. The volume of the blood is 5 L (RBCs + Plasma).
 RBCs make up 40% of blood volume.
Physical Laws/Concepts – Solutes vs. Solvent:
 Solvent: H2O – Forms bulk of body composition.
 Solutes: Dissolved substances
 NaCl  Na+ + Cl- (ions)
 Sucrose  Sucrose
 Concentration = # molecules of solute/volume or mass of solvent.
Physical Laws/Concepts – Diffusion:
 Diffusion: Solutes will move from a region of high concentration to a region of low concentration (i.e.,
down their concentration gradient).
 [solute]2 > [solute]1
Driving Force; 21
Net Diffusion; 21
 Diffusion is the movement of a substance from a region of high concentration to a region of low
concentration.
 Passive process!! Does not require the input of energy.
 Random thermal motions (functions of temperature)
 Transport Equation (Fick’s law of diffusion (simplest form))
dQs/dt - Ds x (C2-C1)
 Ds: Diffusion coefficient-describes how readily the solute moves function of solute (nature of
molecular wt)
 (C2-C1): Concentration gradient of solute – driving force of diffusion.
Movement of Solutes Through Membranes:
I. Concept of semi-permeable membrane (selective permeability)
 Permeable  Allows substances to pass
 Impermeable  Are not allowed to pass
Passive Transport by Diffusion Through Membranes:
  Hydrophobic Solutes – Diffuse through membranes
 Hydrophilic Solutes – Diffuse through pores in membranes
 Membrane Flux Equation:
dQs?/dt = P x (C2-C1)
 (C2-C1)  Driving Force: Concentration difference across membrane.
 P  Membrane Permeability: Defines how easily a substance can cross the membrane.
Structure of Cell Membrane:
 Polar head is hydrophilic (affinity for water/loves water)
 Phospholipids form bilayers with hydrophilic heads exposed to H2O on both sides.
 A phospholipid bilayer is a barrier to hydrophilic substance due to hydrophobic core.
 Hydrophobic substance can easily diffuse through lipid bilayers.
 Hydrophilic substances cannot pass directly through lipid bilayers
 Blocked by hydrophobic core of lipid bilayer.
 Transmembrane channels (pores) provide pathways for movement of H2O and ions across the
lipid bilayer.
 Transmembrane channels are highly regulated.
o Cells Can Regulate Ion Channels: Ion channels can be in an open state (conducting) or a closed state
(non-conducting).
o Ion Channels Are Selective: Ion channels are selective and allow certain ions to pass but not other ions.
(e.g., Sodium/Potassium channels)
Mechanisms of movement of substances (solutes) between compartments:
 Passive Transport:
 Requires concentration gradient (Simple Diffusion)
 Requires some other way for substance to cross membrane
 Other factors can influence passive transport
e.g., electrical forces – ions (membrane potential)
 Active Transport:
 Requires energy (ATP)
 Can move a substance against a concentration gradient.
Active Transport Through Membranes:
 Requires energy
 Can move ions against a concentration gradient (important)
 Requires some enzyme system
 Not a transmembrane channel!!!
Water Balance:
No mechanism to actively transport H2O across the membranes.
 Only mechanism for the movement of H2O is Osmosis.
 Need to think in terms of movement of solutes (ions and non-electrolytes.)
Colligative Property: Property of solutions whose magnitude depends only upon the solute concentration and
the nature of the solvent, but is independent of the nature of the solute!
1. Osmosis
2. Boling point elevation
3. Freezing point depression
4. Vapor pressure elevation
Effect of Solutes on H2O concentration:
 Water like everything else is going to move down its concentration gradient.
 Concentration of pure H2O = 55 M or 55,000 mM
 Solute displaces volume of solvent  Increases total volume
 Number of water molecules is unchanged.
Therefore, water concentration ([H2O]) is decreased.
Osmolality:
 Osmosis: Passive movement of H2O down concentration gradient.
 Osmotic Pressure: The hydrostatic pressure produced by osmosis.
 Osmolality: Is an index of water concentration  the higher the concentration of solutes, the lower
the concentration of water.
 Qualitative Feel: Higher the concentration of solutes in a solution, the higher the osmolality of the
solution and the lower the concentration of H2O.
H2O will move from a region of low osmolarlity to a region of high osmolarlity.
 Quantitative Feel:
1 Molar (1 M) = 1 Moles of solute/ 1 Liter of solution
1 Osmolar (1 Osm) = 1 mole of solute / 1 Liter of Solution = 1000 milliosmolar (1000 mOsm)
Osmolarlity: Simplifying Assumptions
I. 1 mmole of any substance  1 mOsm soln
 Not necessarily true since protein has a larger volume than urea but dilute solutions OK
 Does not depend on the specific molecular species.
II. Do molecules of solute dissociate in H2O?
 1 M sucrose solution  1 osmolar
 1 M NaCl solution  2 osmolar {Na+ + Cl-}
III. Different dissolved solutes add independently in determining total osmolarlity.

Osmolarlity vs. Tonicity:

 Osmolarlity:
 Dealing with whole animal/organ level
 Need to know frame of reference.
 Tonicity:
 Better for cellular level – tonicity is defined as the effect a solution has on a cell.