Summary
Turgor pressure relaxation curves for individual plant cells represent an important source of information for the plant physiologist. However, the accurate interpretation of these curves is strongly dependent on the model chosen to describe the plant cell. If the compartmentation of the cell into vacuole and cytoplasm is taken into account, a theoretical analysis shows that pressure relaxation curves can be represented by the sum of two exponential functions. Givena priori assumptions about the exchange area of the tonoplast and its reflection coefficient, the hydraulic conductivities of the plasmalemma and tonoplast can be determined and the proportion of the total cell volume occupied by the cytoplasm is also obtained. Numerical solutions to the flow equations have shown that the biphasic nature of pressure relaxations is maintained even when a permeable tonoplast is assumed. Depending on the magnitude of the reflection coefficient and the permeability of the vacuolar membrane, large errors can arise in the determination of the hydraulic conductivity of the tonoplast. However, under certain conditions, even a highly permeable tonoplast may behave like a nonpermeable membrane during pressure relaxation.
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Wendler, S., Zimmermann, U. Compartment analysis of plant cells by means of turgor pressure relaxation: I. Theoretical considerations. J. Membrain Biol. 85, 121–132 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01871265
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01871265