Question

The environment outside the plasma membrane is most appropriately referred to as____________A) intracellular space B) cytosol C) extracellular space D) Intersticial spaceE) C or D choices

Answer 1

As we know cell membrane isolates the interior of the cell from the outer medium, it depends on the cell type the way we refer to this. So with this in mind, we can proceed to analyze each available option.

A) This is the inner space of the cell so this cannot be.

B) Cytosol is also part of the inner medium of the cell so this cannot be either.

C) This is correct, as its name says, is the space outside the cell.

D) Interstitial space, as defined, it is said is the space between two components, even more, in some cases, it is taken as a synonym of intercellular space, so this also could be a correct answer.

E) As we can see both options C and D are correct, nonetheless the most precise is option C, even more in the case of animal tissue the proper name would be extracellular matrix. Therefore we can say that this is the correct option.