• Question: How do liquids diffuse through cell walls?

    Asked by bonnie26 to Asif, Laura, Lena, Sean, Viv on 15 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Sean Murphy

      Sean Murphy answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      The phosopholipid bilayer (or cell wall) is a semi-permeable membrane. Water is small enough to simply flow in and out of the cell. Things move down their concentration gradient so if there is more concentrated water outside the cell than inside, water will move in the cell to make an equilibrium.

    • Photo: Laura Waters

      Laura Waters answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      Sean is right, I look at drugs dissolved in liquids and see if they pass through cell walls. Amazing how they do it really.

Comments