Question

What would happen when a red blood cell is kept in concentrated saline solution?

Answer 1

When the concentration of salt in the solution exceed the concentration of salt in the cell there the solution is called hypertonic. In an hypertonic solution, there will be an osmotic pressure that will drive the transport of water from inside the cell membrane to outside the cell membrane. If the solution is concentrated enough and the cell let in this environment long enough, the cell will shrink and eventually die from dehydration. Osmosis is observed because the cell membrane is semi-permeable, water can go through but not salt, when the two sides of the membrane are exposed to different solution, there will be a transport mechanism (the osmosis) created in an attempt to balance the concentration of salt on both side of the membrane. 

The opposite is to put the cell in a solution containing less salt, an hypotonic medium. The osmotic pressure in this case will drive transport of water from outside to inside leading to the swelling of the cell until it pops and dies. 

The cell could only survive for a long time in an isotonic medium, i.e. where the salt concentration of the solution matches the salt concentration inside the cell

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