Cells exposed to a hypotonic solution can take in more water than is expelled, thereby expanding and exploding. It is said that a cell has lysed (sp?) when this occurs. My girlfriend and I were discussing something and this term came up ... but neither of us could remember the term that refers to when a cell shrivels up, as with a cell exposed to a hypertonic solution!

 

Note - I'm not assuming that all cells do this, regardless of cell walls (as in plants) and such, or anything of the sort - really, I'm just curious about the term for cellular implosion. I think there is a term ... and so does my girlfriend. Neither of us can remember it, though, and my googling is all for naught.

 

Someone help us, or else this tip-of-the-tongueism will drive me insane for days, perhaps even years!

i think lysis is when it shrivls and being turgid is when its full

osmosis?

The major difference is the word that comes before it. Cytolysis means when in a cell bursts due to hypotonic environments. This is where we usually use the term "lysis". however, the opposite, which is called plasmolysis, occurs in plant cells when water moves rapidly out of the central vacuole due to a hypertonic environment. i am not sure if animal cells can experience plasmolysis in their true environments, but i know for sure that plasmolysis is attributed mostly to plants. i hope that answers your question.

oh and by the way, Lysis does not only mean the explosion of cells; it could also mean the dissolution of cells.

crenelation

 

whats my prize?

Cells exposed to a hypotonic solution can take in more water than is expelled, thereby expanding and exploding. It is said that a cell has lysed (sp?) when this occurs. My girlfriend and I were discussing something and this term came up ... but neither of us could remember the term that refers to when a cell shrivels up, as with a cell exposed to a hypertonic solution!

 

Note - I'm not assuming that all cells do this, regardless of cell walls (as in plants) and such, or anything of the sort - really, I'm just curious about the term for cellular implosion. I think there is a term ... and so does my girlfriend. Neither of us can remember it, though, and my googling is all for naught.

 

Someone help us, or else this tip-of-the-tongueism will drive me insane for days, perhaps even years!

 

Plasmolysis..I think that is what you are looking for. It is when a cell is placed in a hypertonic solution and causes it to shrink. It is called plasmolysis, which causes the cell to become flacid.

The word lysis refers to the actual breaking of the cell wall and/or membrane, rather than any expansion that could cause it. I am not sure it can have an "opposite".

crenelation

 

whats my prize?

 

How about a cookie? Do you like chocolate chip?

 

Though I don't think crenation is the exact opposite of a cell exploding, I'm pretty sure that's what he was looking for. Of course, only animal cells lyse (intake enough water to explode) and crenelate (shrivel), whereas plant cells become turgid (take in water but held by the cell wall) and undergo plasmolysis (cell wall remains mostly undisturbed, but the plasma shrivels and the chloroplasts all bunch together). Don't mind me, I'm just refreshing my bio knowledge so I don't forget.

 

Edit:

The word is crenation, not crenelation:

Definitions of crenelation on the Web:

 

* Battlements at the top of a tower or wall.

http://www.castlesontheweb.com/glossary.html

 

Definitions of crenation on the Web:

 

* Crenation is the contraction of cells in a hypertonic solution, due to the loss of water through osmosis. The word is from the latin "crenatus" meaning scalloped or notched, and named for the scalloped-edged shape the cells take on when crenated.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crenation