Effects of Osmotic Shock on Some Membrane-regulated Events of Oat Coleoptile Cells.

Oat coleoptile sections (Avena sativa L. cv. "Garry") were osmotically shocked with 0.5 m mannitol followed by 1 mm Na-phosphate (pH 6.4) at 4 C. This treatment reduced uptake of alpha-aminoisobutyric acid, 3-o-methyl glucose, and leucine by 75 to 90% but inhibited (36)Cl(-) uptake only 30%. Some recovery was observed 1 to 3 hours later. Respiration rates were unaffected by osmotic shock and protein synthesis was reduced 11%.Osmotic shock also stimulated efflux of alpha-aminoisobutyric acid and K(+) and led to an increase in conductivity of the solution bathing shocked sections. The transmembrane electropotential of 75% of the shocked cells fell to -20 mv to -45 mv compared with the majority of unshocked cells at -80 mv to -120 mv.We concluded that osmotic shock selectively modifies the plasma membrane. The inhibitions of uptake could be due to removal of specific components of the plasma membrane and/or to the lowered electropotential.