{
  "id": 12464183,
  "title": "4D confocal microscopy of time dependent cell and nuclear osmotic response reveals differential osmoregulation and transport kinetics",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/06/4d-confocal-microscopy-of-time-dependent-cell-and-nuclear-osmotic",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-06T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.30.755591v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Maintaining cell volume is crucial for essential physiological functions. Extracellular osmolarity changes lead to water and solute movement across cell and nuclear membranes, causing alterations in cell and nuclear volumes. This study utilized live three-dimensional imaging to examine the equilibrium and dynamic volumetric responses of cells and nuclei in human hepatoma (HepG2) cell monolayers. Through image segmentation, 3D reconstruction, and volume rendering, precise measurements of cell and nuclear volumes were obtained. During hypoosmotic stress, cells swelled and lost osmolytes through active volume regulation, while nuclei expanded more relative to cells. In hyperosmotic stress, both cells and nuclei rapidly shrank, developed irregular morphologies, and experienced passive volume regulation. After restoring isosmotic conditions following osmotic stress, nuclei returned to volumes greater than their initial isosmotic volume, while cytoplasmic volume decreased to a value below its initial isosmotic volume. By fitting coupled transport models to the dynamic responses of cells and nuclei to different anisosmotic media with and without permeating solutes dimethyl sulfoxide and ethylene glycol, water and solute permeability estimates were determined. These quantitative measurements of cell, cytoplasm, and nuclear volumetric responses and associated transport parameters have significant implications for understanding cell physiology and the mechanisms of osmoregulation.",
  "summary": "A cell's ability to maintain its volume is a prerequisite for its essential physiological functions. Changes in extracellular osmolarity induce the flux of water and solutes across the cell and nuclear membrane and, therefore, alters cell and nuclear volumes. Here, we investigated the equilibrium and dynamic volumetric responses of cells and nuclei in adherent human hepatoma (HepG2) cell…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}