Plasmolysis[edit]

Plant cell under different environments

If a plant cell is placed in

a hypertonic solution, the plant cell loses
water and hence turgor pressure by
plasmolysis: pressure decreases to the point
where the protoplasm of the cell peels away from the cell wall, leaving gaps between the cell wall
and the membrane and making the plant cell shrink and crumple. A continued decrease in pressure
eventually leads to cytorrhysis the complete collapse of the cell wall. Plants with cells in this
condition wilt. After plasmolysis the gap between the cell wall and the cell membrane in a plant cell is
filled with hypertonic solution. This is because as the solution surrounding the cell is
hypertonic, exosmosis takes place and the space between the cell wall and cytoplasm is filled with
solutes, as most of the water drains away and hence the concentration inside the cell becomes more
hypertonic. There are some mechanisms in plants to prevent excess water loss in the same way as
excess water gain. Plasmolysis can be reversed if the cell is placed in
a hypotonicsolution. Stomata help keep water in the plant so it does not dry out. Wax also keeps
water in the plant. The equivalent process in animal cells is called crenation.
The liquid content of the cell leaks out due to exosmosis. The cell collapses, and the cell membrane
pulls away from the cell wall (in plants). Most animal cells consist of only a phospholipid
bilayer (plasma membrane) and not a cell wall, therefore shrinking up under such conditions.
Plasmolysis only occurs in extreme conditions and rarely happens in nature. It is induced in the
laboratory by immersing cells in strong saline or sugar (sucrose) solutions to cause exosmosis, often
using Elodea plants or onion epidermal cells, which have colored cell sap so that the process is
clearly visible. Methylene blue can be used to stain plant cells.
Plasmolysis is mainly known as shrinking of cell membrane in hypertonic solution and great
pressure.
Plasmolysis can be of two types, either concave plasmolysis or convex plasmolysis. Convex
plasmolysis is always irreversible while concave plasmolysis is usually reversible. [3]During concave
plasmolysis, the plasma membrane and the enclosed protoplast partially shrinks from the cell wall
due to half-spherical, inwarding curving pockets forming between the plasma membrane and the cell
wall. During convex plasmolysis, the plasma membrane and the enclosed protoplast shrinks
completely from the cell wall, with the plasma membrane's ends in a symmetrically, spherically
curved pattern.[4]