- Gibbs-Donnan effect
The Gibbs-Donnan effect (also known as the Donnan effect, Donnan law, Donnan equilibrium, or Gibbs-Donnan equilibrium) is a name for the behavior of charged particles near a
semi-permeable membrane to sometimes fail to distribute evenly across the two sides of the membrane. [http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Reference/dictionary/Biologie/G/13.html, retrieved 28 August 2006] The usual cause is the presence of a different charged substance that is unable to pass through the membrane and thus creates an unevenelectrical charge . [ [http://www.people.vcu.edu/~mikuleck/courses/gdeq/sld001.htm The Gibbs-Donnan Equilibrium...] , D.C. Mikulecky, retrieved 28 August 2006] For example, the largeanion ic proteins inblood plasma are not permeable tocapillary walls. Because smallcation s are attracted-to but not bound-to the proteins, small anions will cross capillary walls more readily than small cations.The Gibbs-Donnan effect can prevent sick cells'
sodium pump s from functioning properly. [ [http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1207400 Gibbs-Donnan effect] , Everything2.com, retrieved 28 August 2006] Some ionic species can pass through the barrier while others cannot. The solutions may begel s orcolloid s as well as solutions of electrolytes, and as such the phase boundary between gels, or a gel and a liquid, can also act as a selective barrier. Theelectric potential arising between two such solutions is called theDonnan potential .The effect is named after the
physicist Josiah Willard Gibbs and thechemist Frederick G. Donnan .The Donnan equilibrium is prominent in the triphasic model for articular
cartilage proposed by Mow and Ratcliffe, as well as in electrochemicalfuel cells anddialysis .The Donnan effect is extra osmotic pressure attributable to cations (Na+ and K+) attached to dissolved plasma proteins.
ee also
*
Chemical equilibrium
*Nernst equation
*Double Layer (biospecific)
*Osmotic pressure
*Equilibrium References
*IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology 2nd Edition (1997)
*Van C. Mow and Anthony Ratcliffe "Basic Orthopedic Biomechanics", 2nd Ed. Lippincott-Raven Publishers, Philadelphia, 1997
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