Speculations on Physicochemical Fluid Properties in Physiological Regulation

The authors of this study examine the proposition that certain properties of biological fluids contribute to maintaining steady-state concentration gradients that occur in systems. In particular, simple electrostatic solution is used to demonstrate that differences in ionic strength and constants of fluids separated by simple membranes can large concentration gradients for uncharged organic substances between the fluids. The magnitude of the gradients, whether they are greater or less than one, is shown to depend the electrostatic characteristics of the fluids and on the size signs of the dielectric increments of the substances.