A hypotonic solution has an osmotic strength lower than that of a cell (~300 mOsm). Such a solution causes water to move into a cell due to osmosis.
having less solute concentration than another solution, thus exerting less osmotic pressure than the other solution.
having a lower osmotic pressure than a surrounding fluid or medium
Compare with osmotic pressure. Describes a solution which has lower osmotic pressure than some other solution (usually, lower osmotic pressure than cell or body fluids). Washing your contact lenses with distilled water rather than saline is painful because distilled water is hypotonic; it causes water to move into cells, and they swell and burst.
Less than isotonic concentration.
Hypo-osmolar; having a lower concentration of dissolved particles than a reference solution.
having a lower concentration of solutes compared to another solution.
(hi'-po-TON-ik) The state of a solution having a lower concentration of dissolved particles that the solution it is compared to.
(of a solution) having a lower osmotic pressure than a comparison solution
A sports drink that has a lower concentration of sugars and salts, which means it is absorbed and digested rapidly. Ice therapy The use of ice and ice water in the treatment of injury. Physiologically ice reduces metabolic activity within the tissues thus preventing secondary tissue damage; it also reduces pain signals to the central nervous system. Therapeutically ice therapy relieves pain and helps to reduce the development of swelling.
The opposite of hypertonic. Similar to atonic.
Gk. hypo: beneath, under] • Having a lower solute concentration. Said of one solution in comparing it to another. (Contrast with hypertonic, isotonic.)
Having an osmotic pressure or solute concentration less than that of some standard of comparison.
In comparing two solutions, the solution with the lower osmolarity.
lower solute concentration than another fluid [ edit
Fluid with osmotic pressure lower than that of plasma. Compare hypertonic, isotonic.
Describes a solution containing less ‘particles’ (dissolved solids) than blood plasma.
In Biology, a hypotonic solution has the lower osmotic pressure of two fluids and also describes a cell environment with a lower concentration of solutes than the cytoplasm of the cell. In a hypotonic environment, osmosis causes a net flow of water into the cell, causing swelling and expansion. This swelling can cause the cell to burst.