Evidence of many types has led biologists to the conclusion that
life had its origins in the ancient seas. Of the major environmental media
of the earth--- sea water, fresh water, air--- sea water exhibits by far
the greatest stability. In such crucial characteristics as temperature,
acidity, and salt concentration, the seas fluctuate remarkably little over
immense spans of time, their vast bulk making any change very gradual and
slow.
We have already seen that a living cell interacts constantly
with its surrounding environmental medium. Such critical functions as nutrient
procurement, gas exchange, metabolism --- indeed life itself--- are
closely dependent upon the properties of the surrounding medium. It is
not surprising , therefore, that the protoplasm (generic term for the fluid
material inside a cell) of the early cells had many characteristics in
common with the sea water that bathed them, and that the life processes
evolved a close dependence on the stable conditions existing in sea water.
Similarly, it is not surprising that the evolution of complex multicellular
marine animals involved the development of body fluids --- tissue fluid,
blood, etc. ---that could provide even the inner most body cells with a
relatively non-fluctuating aquatic environment, and that the internal body
fluids of those primitive marine animals resembled in many important ways
the sea water that had been the cradle of life.
As the ages passed and evolution continued, the body fluids of
different organisms evolved in different ways, just as other characteristics
did. Comparison of the chemical makeup of the body fluids of a variety
of present day marine animals, reveals many differences among them. Even
more noticeable differences are found if the comparison is extended to
fresh water and terrestrial animals, and very great differences indeed
if it is extended to plants. Lets look at Table 2.
Concentrations of ions in sea water and in body fluids ( mM / l )
Na+ K+
Ca++ Mg++
Cl-
Sea water
459.0 9.8
10.1 52.5
538.0
Marine invertebrates
Jelly fish
454.0 10.2
9.7 51.0
554.0
Sea urchin
444.0 9.6
9.9 50.2
522.0
Annelid worm 456.0
12.3 10.1
51.7 538.0
Lobster
472.0 10.0
15.6
6.8 470.0
Crab
468.0 12.2
17.5 23.6
524.0
Fresh water invertebrates
Clam
13.9 0.3
11.0 0.3
12.0
Crayfish
146.0 3.9
8.1
4.3 139.0
Brown trout
149.0 5.1
?
?
140.5
Terrestrial animals
Cockroach
161.0 7.9
4.0
5.6
144.0
Honey bee
11.0 31.0
18.0 21.0
?
Japanese beetle
20.0 10.0
16.0 39.0
19.0
Chicken
154.0 6.0
5.6
2.3
122.0
Dog
150.0 4.4
5.3
1.8
106.0
Man
145.0 5.1
2.5
1.2
103.0
Fresh water 0.65 0.01 2.0 0.21 0.48
*mM / l = millimoles per liter
Na+ = Sodium
K+ = Potassium
Ca++ = Calcium
Mg++ = Magnesium
Cl- = Chlorine
We should not make the mistake of exaggerating the similarities of these fluids. Nonetheless, it remains true that all these fluids have much in common, and that , as Ernest Baldwin of Cambridge University has said, "The conditions under which cell life is possible are very restricted indeed and have not changed substantially since life first began". The evolutionary development of the immense diversity now seen among living organisms has necessarily involved the concomitant evolution of mechanisms for maintaining within each organism a fluid environment with the properties requisite for the continued life of its cells. This basic principle was stated in a much quoted form during the last century by the great French physiologist, Claude Bernard, as follows, "The capacity of organisms to keep their internal fluid environment constant is a prerequisite to their being able to live in a variety of environments".
--- to be continued---
Bless you, Bob Lee
--
oozing on the muggy shore of the gulf coast
[email protected]
--
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