EXIT OF DYE FROM LIVING CELLS OF NITELLA AT DIFFERENT pH VALUES

Abstract

Experiments on the exit of brilliant cresyl blue from the living cells of Nitella, in solutions of varying external pH values containing no dye, confirm the theory that the relation of the dye in the sap to that in the external solution depends on the fact that the dye exists in two forms, one of which (DB) can pass through the protoplasm while the other (DS) passes only slightly. DB increases (by transformation of DS to DB) with an increase in the pH value, and is soluble in substances like chloroform and benzene. DS increases with decrease in pH value and is insoluble (or nearly so) in chloroform and benzene. The rate of exit of the dye increases as the external pH value decreases. This may be explained on the ground that DB as it comes out of the cell is partly changed to DS, the amount transformed increasing as the pH value decreases. The rate of exit of the dye is increased when the pH value of the sap is increased by penetration of NH3.