Effect of Osmolality on the Hydraulic Permeability Coefficient of Red Cells

The osmotic water permeability coefficient, L_p, for human and dog red cells has been measured as a function of medium osmolality, and found to depend on the osmolality of the bathing medium. In the case of human red cells L_p falls from 1.87 x 10^-11 cm³/dyne sec at 199 mOSM to 0.76 x 10^-11 cm³/dyne sec at 516 mOSM. A similar decrease was observed for dog red cells. Moreover, L_p was independent of the direction of water movement and the nature of the solute used to provide the osmotic pressure gradient; it depended only on the final osmolality of the medium. Furthermore, L_p was not affected by pH in the range of 6 to 8 nor by the presence of drugs such as valinomycin (1 x 10^-6 M) and tetrodotoxin (3.2 x 10^-6 M). The instantaneous nature of the response to changes in external osmolality suggests that the hydraulic conductivity of the membrane is controlled by a thin layer at the outer face of the membrane.