Cell Transport Mechanisms and Permeability:  

Simulating Osmotic Pressure 

Simbi Sulaiman 

Anatomy & Physiology I, section C2L 

Dr. Fanini 

April 18. 2020 

 
Introduction 

Osmosis can be described as the process of water moving from one solution to another 

solution, through a selectively permeable membrane. The selectively permeable membrane 

would enable water to pass through freely, all without permitting passage to other solutes that 

may reside within the solution. In the areas where there is a higher amount of solutes than there 

are water molecules, water will then move towards those areas. Having to cross a selectively 

permeable membrane to do so, water's movement can be described as going “down the 

concentration gradient” (Khan Academy, 2015). This movement will continue until the 

concentration of both the water and the solute are balanced on both sides of the membrane.  

Osmosis can occur between extracellular and intracellular fluids. Isotonic, hypotonic and 

hypertonic are the names that can be used to describe the relationship between those two 

environments. Isotonic is when the extracellular fluid has the same osmolarity as the intracellular 

fluid, resulting in no net movement. Hypotonic can describe the solution with the lower solute 

concentration and hypertonic can describe the solution with higher solute concentration. 

The human body greatly depends on osmosis to maintain homeostasis. In the matter of 

red blood cells, “isotonic conditions [happen to be] ideal” (Khan Academy, 2015). When 

erythrocytes are located within a hypotonic solution, water will flow into the cell causing it to 

burst. The opposite occurs when a red blood cell is in a hypertonic situation. Here, the cell begins 

to shrivel, causing the cytoplasm to become dense, leading to cell death. The role water’s 

concentration gradient plays in osmosi is so significant that it causes the entire process to be 

deemed passive. 

 
 
 
Materials and Method  
 
❖ 2 beakers connected to membrane holder 

❖ Dialysis membranes with molecular weight cutoffs (MWCOs): 20, 50, 100, 200 

❖ NaᐩCl⁻ 

❖ Glucose 

❖ Albumin 

❖ Deionized Water 

❖ Timer 

First, I placed a 20 MWCO membrane in the membrane holder between the two beakers. 

I then dispensed a NaᐩCl⁻ solution with a concentration of 5.00 mM into the left beaker and 

filled the right beaker with deionized water. To begin the run, I removed the barriers between the 

beakers and allowed the solutions access to the membrane. I allowed this to continue for the 

allotted time of 60 minutes. By observing the concentration display, the number of ions in each 

beaker was measured, noted and recorded.  

I then cleaned the equipment and repeated the experiment with the following materials: 

20 MWCO and 10.00 mM of NaᐩCl⁻ 

50 MWCO and 10.00 mM of NaᐩCl⁻ 

100 MWCO and 8.00 mM of Glucose 

100 MWCO and 8.00 mM of Glucose, in the left and right beakers 

200 MWCO and 8.00 mM of Glucose 

200 MWCO and 9.00 mM of Albumin in the left beaker with 10.00 mM Glucose 

in the right beaker 

 
Results 
 
Simulating Osmotic Pressure 

Solute  MWCO  Start Conc.  Pressure  Start  Rate 

NaᐩCl⁻  20  5.00  170  0.00  0.00 

NaᐩCl⁻  20  10.00  340  0.00  0.00 

NaᐩCl⁻  50  10.00  0  0.00  0.0167 

Glucose  100  8.00  136  0.00  0.00 

Glucose  100  8.00  0  8.00  0.00 

Glucose  200  8.00  0  0.00  0.0036 

Albumin    9.00    0.00  0.00 

of solute concentration and different molecular weight. 

 
Discussion 

​In this experiment, I simulated osmosis to understand how various circumstances may 

influence osmotic pressure. Shown by the data in Table 1, a change in the membrane 

permeability, the types of solutes involved and the amount of solute on each side of the 

membrane result in great changes to the osmotic pressure. Within runs one and two of the trial, 

the 5.00 and the 10.00 mM of NaᐩCl⁻ were unable to diffuse through the 20 MWCO. This 

indicates that the ionic size of the NaᐩCl⁻ was far too large to passively cross the membrane. A 

way that semipermeable membranes implement their selectivity is through their pore size. This 

problem was alleviated in run three where the 10.00 mM concentration of NaᐩCl⁻ remained the 

same, but the MWCO was increased to 50. Because the membrane pore size increased, the 

NaᐩCl⁻ ions were capable to finally disperse with a speed of 0.0167 mM/sec. This can be 

compared to the trials that involved glucose. With an 8.00 mM concentration, glucose was 

unable to move by the MWCO of 100, but when the membrane was increased to 200, the glucose 

ions could then fit, resulting in a diffusion rate of .0036. The fifth experimental run, with 100 

MWCO and 8.00 mM of glucose in both beakers greatly exemplified an isotonic environment. 

While water constantly moved through the membrane, since the concentration on both sides was 

equal, there was no net movement of water” resulting in a 0.00 mM/sec diffusion rate (Martini, 

Nath, & Bartholomew, 2018, p. 94). In the final run of the experiment, I had 200 MWCO and 

9.00 mM of albumin in the left beaker with 10.00 mM glucose in the right beaker. Glucose could 

pass through the membrane, but due to its size, the Albumin could not. This resulted in the 

diffusion of glucose until equilibrium was reached and the osmotic pressure of 153 mm Hg in the 
left beaker. This experiment exemplified how important the permeability on a membrane is when 

maintaining osmotic pressure. 

 
 References 

Khan Academy. (2015). Tonicity: hypertonic, isotonic & hypotonic solutions (article). Retrieved

April 17, 2020, from

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/membranes-and-transport/diffusion-and-o

smosis/a/osmosis

Martini, F., Nath, J. L., & Bartholomew, E. F. (2018). ​Fundamentals of anatomy & physiology.​

Zao, Peter. “PhysioEx 9.1: Fundamentals of Anatomy and Physiology”. Mastering A&P,

Pearson, Eleventh edition, 2014.

https://media.pearsoncmg.com/bc/bc_martini_fap_11/msa/content/physioex9.php