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Science 31 March 1967:
Vol. 155. no. 3770, pp. 1675 - 1676
DOI: 10.1126/science.155.3770.1675
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Articles

Turgor Pressure: Direct Manometric Measurement in Single Cells of Nitella

Paul B. Green 1 and Frederick W. Stanton 1

1 Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104

A small capillary, fused at one end, serves as a micromanometer when the open end is inserted into a large Nitella cell. The cell's ability to compress the gas reveals its turgor pressure directly-save for a small correction due to capillarity. The method gives a lower limit to turgor pressure for the same cell in the normal state. The common method, incipient plasmolysis, gives an upper limit. On Nitella axillaris cells the two methods limit the turgor pressure at 5.1 to 5.7 atmospheres. The manometric method is also applicable to growing cells, where osmotic equilibrium is not present.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)