Question

When white blood cells are called to an area of infection, not only is there phagocytosis taking place, but also exocytosis of undigested particles from the white blood cells into the interstitial space. What effect does this have on water in the surrounding cells and capillary plasma? When white blood cells are called to an area of infection, not only is there phagocytosis taking place, but also exocytosis of undigested particles from the white blood cells into the interstitial space. What effect does this have on water in the surrounding cells and capillary plasma?

Swelling of the nearby cells and plasma ensues due to the hypotonic nature of the area. It creates a hypertonic environment, drawing water from the surrounding cells and plasma. These particles have no effect on tonicity, since their precursors were already in the body. It dehydrates the area due to the increase in lysosomal waste products. Plasma water moves to the interstitium by osmosis and then into the adjacent cells.

Answer 1

This makes solution hypertonic which helps in reduction of inflammation in the surrounding cells.

Step-by-step explanation:

The phagocytosis is the process by which white blood cells take in in different parts of of the pathogens that are invading the human body as well as secreting different toxins which helps them to survive better inside their hosts. Thus these white blood cells takes in the pathogens and thereby digests them and produce the excretory products which are then excreted in the interstitial space. Excretory products from thousands of white blood cells accumulate in the blood plasma and thereby it increases the concentration of blood plasma and makes it hypertonic with respect to the tonicity of the surrounding cells.

In the meantime due to the infection, the surrounding cells are inflamed. The hypertonic blood plasma thereby draws out different amounts of water from the cell and reduces the inflammation to certain extent.