The vapour pressure isotherm of muscle

Abstract

It has been suggested that some of the water in muscle and other biological materials is in the bound state. The definition of bound water was varied with the method used for its determination, but the term usually denotes that the behaviour of the system cannot be explained by considering the total water present as the solvent. The methods used have been discussed by Hill (1930) and Briggs (1931, b ); in some cases a large proportion of the water present was believed to be in the bound state. In the present work, the water content of a single sartorius muscle (in rigor) of the frog has been investigated when in equilibrium with various pressures of water vapour, and an attempt made to calculate the amount of bound water present. It is hoped later to apply the method, which involves the minimum of interference with the structure of the muscle, to the more complicated system of living muscle.