Laboratory Activity #4

Plant Cell
Physiology:
Osmosis, Turgidity,
Plasmolysis
BS BIOLOGY 1-2
Group 1:
Birion, Megan Clarrise
Del Rosario, Nishe Patrick Martin F.
Galagate, Nicole Grace E.
Sulaiman, Alysa B.
Yandoc, John Mychael
Wet mounted
Cell sap is the liquid inside the
large central vacuole of a plant
Figure 1. T. spathacea wet cell that serves as storage of
mounted observed under materials and provides
LPO
mechanical support, especially in
non-woody plants. It contains
anthocyanin that act as a
‘sunscreen’, protecting cells from
high-light damage by absorbing
Cell wall Figure 2. T. spathacea blue- green light, thereby
wet mounted observed
Cell sap
under HPO protecting the tissues from photo-
inhibition, or high-light stress
(Shah, 2019).
The cell sap of T. spathacea placed with water
is observed to be turgid, the anthocyanin is
widespread through the cell and its violet
pigment has a high intensity of color.

The water moves into the plant cell vacuole and pushes
against the cell wall and eventually the cell contains as
much water as it can hold. The cell wall stops the cell
bursting making it look turgid. The turgidity of plant cells
is important as it gives the plant support and keeps the
stems of plants upright.
STOMATA
Since the specimen is
mounted with water, the
water moves in areas with
Chloroplast less water concentration
Pore
Guard Cell
which is the guard cells in this
set-up. Like other plant cell,
guard cells swell up when
they take in water. This
swelling causes the two cells
to bend, which in turn opens
Figure 3. Stoma of wet mounted T. spathacea up the pore.
observed under HPO
With sugar solution
The cell sap that has a lower intensity of
violet pigment compared to the
specimen when exposed in water. There
Figure 4. T. spathacea
are also certain area of cell that are
exposed in concentrated
sugar solution observed empty, this phenomenon is called
under LPO plasmoysis.

Plasmolysis is the shrinking of the

protoplasm as a result of water loss.
Since the specimen is placed in a
Figure 5. T. spathacea hypertonic solution, the water moves
exposed in concentrated out from vacuole to area with high
sugar solution observed sugar concentration through osmosis
under HPO causing the presence of gaps between
cell wall and plasma membrane
On the other hand, plasmolysis can be reversed
called deplasmolysis. Deplasmolysis is the opposite
process of plasmolysis; when the concentration of
the solution external to a plasmolyzed cell is
decreased or when solutes permeate from the
external solution into the vacuole, water will
reenter the vacuole, and the increase in protoplast
volume leads to restoration of full turgidity
(Stadelmann, 2004).
STOMATA
Since guard cells are exposed
in a concentrated sugar
solution, the water will move
out of it to the area with high
concentration. The diffusion
of water causes the loss of
turgidity in guard cells making
it straighten and closing the
pore.
Figure 6. Stoma of T. spathacea exposed in
concentrated sugar solution observed under
HPO
 DIFFUSION VS OSMOSIS
Diffusion is the movement
of particles from an area
of higher concentration to
lower concentration. The
overall effect is to equalize
concentration throughout
the medium.
Osmosis is the movement of
solvent particles across a
semipermeable membrane from
a dilute solution into a
concentrated solution. The
solvent moves to dilute the
concentrated solution and
equalize the concentration on
both sides of the membrane.
One of the main differences between osmosis
and diffusion is that both solvent and solute
particles are free to move in diffusion, but when
we talk about osmosis, only the solvent
molecules specifically water molecules cross the
membrane (Helmenstine, 2019).