Body Fluid Research Paper

of water varying slightly from person to person. We consume water from drinking it and also from the food we eat such as watermelons. We also get a tiny percentage of water given out through the process of respiration. Water is a universal solvent. Water in our body acts as a solvent for solutes such as amino acid, glucose, urea, lipids (non electrolytes) and electrolytes (which break up into ions) such as Na+, K+ to be dissolved in. This solution is the body fluid.

Body fluids are of two type:

1. Intracellular fluid (ICF)

2. Extracellular fluids (ECF)

Intracellular fluid is the body fluid found inside the cell and extracellular fluid is what is found outside the cell. The ICF contains about 2/3 of the body fluid and the rest is distributed

For the cells to survive the contact with ECF is necessary. Slight changes to the ECF can have an impact on the ICF and can damage the cell. To keep the body fluid maintained and balanced the amount of electrolyse we take into our body should be the same as the amount that comes out. Any effect on the electrolyte concentration will affect the concentration of water and it could have a great impact on the cell itself. water movement into and out of the cell will take place until the concentration the ions is the same in the ECF and the

Due to it having little water, the concentration of the solutes is higher outside than on the inside the cell. So through the action of osmosis the water from inside the cell moves out. This causes plasmolysis; the cell to shrink and shrivel up. It loses it shape Hypotonic solution:

Hypotonic solution is the opposite of hypertonic. Hypotonic is when the ECF has a higher amount of water and less solute. This causes osmosis to take place and the water moves into the cell. The cell swells up. Due to water moving into the cell the action of lysis takes place in which the cell membrane breaks because of the water volume causing pressure on it and the cell becomes lysed. Since animal cells don’t have a cell wall, they keep on swelling until they burst.

To keep our cells in a isotonic fluid it is important for the amount of water that we take in must equals to the amount we lose; this keeps the water volume in our body stable and keeps us properly hydrated.

Water is gained through drinking and eating we also get water as a product through the process of respiration.

Water is lost through urine, faeces, sweat, breathing, crying, menstruation and lactation.

Dehydration is when water loss is greater than the water we are gaining.