Dehydration: a universal response to stress?

Loss of cellular water under adverse conditions has been observed in diverse cells, organisms, and types of stress. The latter include starvation, senescence, apoptosis, and some non- or pre-apoptotic conditions. Remarkably, among stresses resulting in dehydration are some that initially produce the opposite response: an accumulation of water. Moreover, even when water accumulation does occur locally, such as in necrotic blebs or vacuoles, the rest of the cytoplasm maintains its normal water content. These facts are briefly reviewed, and four hypotheses for the dehydration mechanism(s) are discussed: (1) activation of ion channels, (2) cytoskeleton-mediated compression, (3) release of osmotically-inactive water, (4) crosslinking of the cytoplasm. Kent State University Research Council This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2025 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.