Abstract
Summary
Rat atria were incubated for one hour in the presence of the extracellular marker mannitol. These atria were blotted either two times or twenty times resulting in markedly different values for the calculated “extracellular space.” The ratios between the intracellular water and the dry weights were also determined for these same tissues and these ratios were not significantly different for the two blotting procedures. Therefore, although extracellular space values may vary, the intracellular water to dry weight ratio remains a constant, and thus a useful value under a specified set of conditions.
This investigation was supported by U.S. Public Health Service Grant HE 07718. We thank Dr. W. McD. Armstrong for stimulating discussions concerning this report.
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