red blood cells

what could happen to red blood cells during exercise if water lost is not replaced?

what is the relationship between red blood cells, exercise, and osmosis?

Reply 1

TheConfusedMedic

21

Original post by Beccatenney

what could happen to red blood cells during exercise if water lost is not replaced?

what is the relationship between red blood cells, exercise, and osmosis?

This is just a complete guess but...

When you exercise, you lose water as sweat (along with mineral ions). If this water is not replaced, there will be a higher concentration of water inside the red blood cells (??) than outside them and so the water will move by osmosis out of the cells, causing them to shrivel.

Like I said, this is a guess because idk if there even is water in the red blood cells :lol:

Reply 2

Jesusismyhigh

2

Ok, this could be like a 2-marker or a 4/5 marker:
1. Exercise=more respiration of glucose to release energy; this also releases a lot of heat
2. As you exercise, you get warmer. Hypothalamus detects this.
3. To cool down, aside from hairs relaxing and vaso-dilation, sweat glands sweat more to allow heat to be carried away from the body
4. Sweat means more water is leaving the body by evaporation; if not replaced, the blood's water potential decreases.
5. Because the WP in the blood has decreased, the water in the cells moves out with the concentration gradient(via osmosis from an area of High WP to an area of low WP). The red blood cells then will lose water.
6. That is likely to be bad for enzymes, cellular reactions etc.

Reply 3

Vav Sartrean Po

18

Original post by Jesusismyhigh

Ok, this could be like a 2-marker or a 4/5 marker:
1. Exercise=more respiration of glucose to release energy; this also releases a lot of heat
2. As you exercise, you get warmer. Hypothalamus detects this.
3. To cool down, aside from hairs relaxing and vaso-dilation, sweat glands sweat more to allow heat to be carried away from the body
4. Sweat means more water is leaving the body by evaporation; if not replaced, the blood's water potential decreases.
5. Because the WP in the blood has decreased, the water in the cells moves out with the concentration gradient(via osmosis from an area of High WP to an area of low WP). The red blood cells then will lose water.
6. That is likely to be bad for enzymes, cellular reactions etc.

To add to that, I think that heavy temperature changes can actually denature enzymes, essentially breaking their shape. As a result, they can no longer fit in (they only fit in one specific shape) and they won't work.

Reply 4

Jesusismyhigh

2

Original post by Marshall Taylor

To add to that, I think that heavy temperature changes can actually denature enzymes, essentially breaking their shape. As a result, they can no longer fit in (they only fit in one specific shape) and they won't work.

That's true; I was referring to the need for water, but not being at the optimum temperature will denature the active sites, disrupting the enzyme-substrate complex as the 'lock and key' won't fit. This will slow down the rate of reactions in cells.

red blood cells

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