Turgor pressure

Turgor pressure pushes the plasma membrane against the cell wall of plant, bacteria, and fungi cells as well as those protist cells which have cell walls. This pressure, turgidity, is caused by the osmotic flow of water from area of low solute concentration outside of the cell into the cell's vacuole, which has a higher solute concentration. Healthy plant cells are turgid and plants rely on turgidity to maintain rigidity. In contrast, this phenomenon is not observed in animal cells which have no cell walls to prevent them from being burst by the flow of water into the cell and must either continually pump out water or live in an isotonic solution where there is no osmotic pressure.

Mechanism

Eventually, the cell's membrane is enlarged such that it pushes against the cell's rigid wall. At this point the cell is said to be turgid. In an isotonic solution, water flows into the cell at the same rate it flows out. The pressure pushing the cell's membrane against its wall is reduced and the cell is said to be flaccid. When a cell is placed in a hypertonic solution water actually flows out of the cell into the surrounding solution. This, plasmolysis, causes the membrane to recede from the wall and is responsible for wilting in plant cells.

See also

• Bulliform cell