What Component of the Living Cell Is Responsible for Its Semipermeable Properties? Polarized Water or Lipids?

Abstract

A close correlation (r = +0.96) exists between the permeability (at 0 degrees , 4 degrees , and 25 degrees C) of H(2)O and nine other hydroxylic nonelectrolytes through reversed frog skin and through synthetic cellulose-acetate sheets. By the method of least squares, the data yield the following relation: log (P(frog skin)) = 0.9900 log (P(cellulose acetate)) -0.1659. Both the reversed frog skin and the cellulose-acetate sheets are semipermeable (while the lipoid membrane is not), showing higher permeability to water than to any other solute used in this series. The data offer support for the theory that it is not lipid, but water polarized in multilayers by cellular proteins, that provides the living cell with its selective surface barrier.

Experimental Confirmation of the Polarized Multilayer Theory of Cell Water Including Data That Lead to an Improved Definition of Colloids

“…Apparently (activated) cellulose acetate behaves in a similar manner. Thus Ling (1973) showed that cellulose acetate sheet shows similar semipermeability properties as the living cell 11 membrane" (inverted frog skin) for 11 hydroxylic compounds at 3 different temperatures. Since the pores of these activated cellulose acetate membranes have pores with an average diameter of 45 ~ (Ling, 1973) which is 5 times wider than the diameter of sucrose, to which the membrane is virtually impermeable, clearly the situation closely resembles the case of copper-ferrocyanide gel membrane.…”

“…Thus Ling (1973) showed that cellulose acetate sheet shows similar semipermeability properties as the living cell 11 membrane" (inverted frog skin) for 11 hydroxylic compounds at 3 different temperatures. Since the pores of these activated cellulose acetate membranes have pores with an average diameter of 45 ~ (Ling, 1973) which is 5 times wider than the diameter of sucrose, to which the membrane is virtually impermeable, clearly the situation closely resembles the case of copper-ferrocyanide gel membrane. In both, a low q-value of sucrose for the water polarized by either the cellulose acetate, or by the copper-ferrocyanide, in addition to greatly reduced diffusion coefficient (D) for sucrose in this polarized water accounts for its low permeability (P = qD).…”

“…The polarized multilayer theory of cell water first proposed in 1965 as part of the AI Hypothesis (Ling, 1965) was amplified in 1973and 1975(Ling, 1973, Ling and Sobel, 1975, includes the following postulations.…”

“…In fact Ling has shown that this is precisely the case. Among those that take up a huge amount of water is once more gelatin (Ling, 1973(Ling, , 1983). …”

Water and the Living Cell as Seen from the Viewpoint of a New Paradigm

“…Like PVP and PEO, cellulose acetate apparently can provide the NP-NP-NP sites, also. Figure 2 taken from Ling (1973) presents a plot of the permeability of water and 11 hydroxylic compounds through a hydra ted cellulose acetate membrane against the permeability of a living membrane (inverted frog skin). Not that this figure demonstrates more than just a good correlation (r = +0.96) but direct correspondence: the bestfitting eurve has a slope ofO.99 and that both the ordinates and abseissa are in the same units.…”