During osmotic changes of their environment, cells actively regulate their volume and plasma membrane tension that can passively change through osmosis. How tension and volume are coupled during osmotic adaptation remains unknown, as their quantitative characterization is lacking. Here, we performed dynamic membrane tension and cell volume measurements during osmotic shocks. During the first few seconds following the shock, cell volume varied to equilibrate osmotic pressures inside and outside the cell, and membrane tension dynamically followed these changes. A theoretical model based on the passive, reversible unfolding of the membrane as it detaches from the actin cortex during volume increase quantitatively describes our data. After the initial response, tension and volume recovered from hypoosmotic shocks but not from hyperosmotic shocks. Using a fluorescent membrane tension probe (fluorescent lipid tension reporter [Flipper-TR]), we investigated the coupling between tension and volume during these asymmetric recoveries. Caveolae depletion and pharmacological inhibition of ion transporters and channels, mTORCs, and the cytoskeleton all affected tension and volume responses. Treatments targeting mTORC2 and specific downstream effectors caused identical changes to both tension and volume responses, their coupling remaining the same. This supports that the coupling of tension and volume responses to osmotic shocks is primarily regulated by mTORC2.

This study investigated a low-energy-consuming procedure for the synthesis of zeolite materials from coal fly ash (CFA). Materials containing zeolite phases, namely Na–X, Na–P1, and zeolite A, were produced from F–class fly ash, using NaOH dissolved in distilled water or in wastewater obtained from the wet flue gas desulphurization process, under atmospheric pressure at a temperature below 70 °C. The influence of temperature, exposure time, and alkaline solution concentration on the synthesized materials was tested. In addition, chemical, mineralogical, and textural properties of the obtained materials were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and cation exchange capacity (CEC). Cd(II), Ni(II), NH4+ cation, and Se(VI) anion sorption experiments were conducted to compare the sorption properties of the produced synthetic zeolites with those of the commercially available ones. Zeolitization resulted in an increase of CEC (up to 30 meq/100 g) compared to raw CFA and enhanced the ability of the material to adsorb the chosen ions. The obtained synthetic zeolites showed comparable or greater sorption properties than natural clinoptilolite and synthetic Na–P1. They were also capable of simultaneously removing cationic and anionic compounds. The structural, morphological, and textural properties of the final product indicated that it could potentially be used as an adsorbent for various types of environmental pollutants.

Abstract. The use of zeolites as sorbents has been investigated as a replacement for existing costly methods of removing organic contaminants from water solutions. Zeolites can be modified by inorganic salts, organic surfactants, metals or metal oxides in order to increase their adsorption capacity. The unique ion exchange and adsorption properties of zeolites make them very suitable for application in the removal of organic compounds such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phenols and other complex petrochemicals. Many different studies have demonstrated their effectiveness in reducing the concentrations of organic contaminants as well as petroleum derivatives in water, which has been summarized in this paper.

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