Estimating Osmolarity of Plant Cells

Abstract Plant cells maintain their concentration level of water in the cell to be within the reasonable range in order to continue their normal activities. This experiment was performed in order to estimate what concentration level of sucrose solution is best for potato cells, in another word, to estimate osmolarity of potato cells. In order to achieve this goal, the different levels of concentrations of sucrose solutions were prepared, and potato samples were incubated in the solutions for ample amount of time then the initial and final weights after the incubation were analyzed. At concentration of 0.2 M, the potato did not change its weight, indicating that inside the potato cell was also 0.2 M and the solution was isotonic. At less than 0.2 M, the potato gained its weight, indicating it absorbed water from outside the cell and the solution was hypotonic to the cell. At more than 0.2 M, the potato gained its weight, indicating it gave away water from inside to outside hypertonic solution. From this observation, it can be said that the optimum water content for normal physiological processes in potato in terms of sucrose is 0.2 M. Also the outcome from the experiment with these particular settings confirms that the cell membrane of the potato cell is selectively permissible and it allows water molecules to move freely in and out the cell, but not sucrose molecules.

Introduction

Osmosis is the diffusion of water molecules through a selectively permeable membrane from a region of low to high concentration of solutes. The selective permeability is a property of biological membranes that allows cells to regulate the passage of substances. (Campbell N, Reece J, 2007) If there are regions where there are higher concentrations of a substance or lower region of a substance in relation to each other. The solutions in which the concentration is higher are called hypertonic, and the solutions in which the concentration is lower are called hypotonic. The solutions with the same concentration are called isotonic. When there is greater difference of the concentration, the movement of solvent from lower concentration region to higher concentration region is more vigorous. In this experiment potato samples in the different concentration of sucrose solution were prepared. When sucrose is more concentrated than outside the potato cell, the cell is hypertonic to the solution across the cell membrane and gains its weight. When sucrose is less concentrated than inside the cell, the cell is hypotonic to the solution across the cell membrane and loses its weight. This is important experiment to understand how organisms control what substances come inside or outside the cell. Also this phenomenon of osmolarity plays important role in the growth of plants and how the plants will look like by abundance of water

Method In preparing plant cell samples, potato was diced to seven thin slices so that each measures approximately 5 cm long. Each slice was weighed on a top loading balance with the uncertainty of 0.05 gram to be recorded its initial weight before the experiment. In order to increase the surface area of action for the experiment, each slice was cut in

half. In preparing solutions, 100mL of DI water and 100mL of sucrose solutions with different concentration from 0.1 M to 0.6 M were obtained in 250-mL beakers. Seven sliced pairs of potato sample were incubated in the beaker for about 90 minutes to 120 minutes. Potato samples were removed from the beaker and lightly dried on paper towels to wipe out solutions on the surface, then with the same top loading balance that was used earlier, the mass of potato samples were recorded. With the initial and final weight of each sample, the percent change in weight was calculated by dividing weight change by initial weight then multiplying by 100.

Results After 90 to 120 minuets of incubation, the potato samples weight changes are shown on the table below. Table 1. Weights and Weights Changes of Potato Samples in Different Molarity of Sucrose Solutions.
Molarity of Sucrose Solution Initial Weight of Potato Final Weight of Potato Change in Weight of Potato % Change in Weight of Potato

0 M (DI Water) 0.1 M 0.2 M 0.3 M 0.4 M 0.5 M 0.6 M

0.8 g 0.8 g 0.8 g 0.8 g 0.8 g 0.8 g 0.8 g

1.0 g 0.9 g 0.8 g 0.7 g 0.6 g 0.6 g 0.5 g

+0.2 g +0.1 g 0.0 g -0.1 g -0.2 g -0.2 g -0.3 g

25 % 12.5 % 0% -12.5 % -25 % -25 % -37.5 %

With 0 M and 0.1 M sucrose solutions, potato gained its weight indicating that at this molarity, sucrose solutions were hypotonic to the potato cell. With 0.2 M solution, there was no difference in its weight indicating that 0.2 M was isotonic and the cell and the solution had equal concentration of sucrose. With 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6 M solutions,

potato lost its weight indicating that solutions were hypotonic to the cell. In order to visualize the trend of the weight change, a figure showing the relationship between change in weight and molarity level of sucrose solutions are listed below;

Figure 1. Change in Weight of Potato vs. Molarity of Sucrose Solutions

0.3 Change in Weight of Potato (g) 0.2 0.1 0 -0.1 -0.2 -0.3 -0.4 Molarity of Sucrose Solution (M) 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

At the lowest molarity of 0 M, there was most increase in weight of potato sample, and at the highest molarity of 0.6 M, there was most decrease in weight. The figure is showing relatively constant linear slope indicating the change in weight and molarity were inversely related to each other.

Discussion

The result of the experiment supported the hypothesis that lower concentration of surrounding solution will cause a plant cell to gain its weight by the movement of water from low to high concentration of sucrose that is bounded within the cell, and the higher concentration of surrounding solution will cause a plant cell to lose its weight by the opposite of same principle with surrounding being higher concentration than inside the cell. The level of

Referrence Campbell N, Reece B, 2007, Biology, 8th Edition, San Francisco, CA, pp 132 Thomas, B, 2003, Encyclopedia of Applied Plant Sciences, the Effect of Water Availability, Volume 1, San Diego, CA, pp 572-573