Distribution of water between intracellular and extracellular phases in incubated tissue slices

Abstract

Guinea pig liver and kidney cortex slices swelled when incubated under a variety of abnormal metabolic and osmotic conditions. Simultaneous measurement of the inulin space permitted the calculation of the distribution of the water of swelling between the intracellular and extracellular compartments. Swelling was entirely intracellular in the kidney cortex slices, while both intracellular and extracellular compartments were involved in the swelling of liver slices. Under all the conditions studied, kidney slices had a greater capacity for resisting changes in the volume and distribution of tissue water than did the liver slices.