When there is no turgor pressure, the cells of a plant are subject to two conditions – plasmolysed and flaccid. Typically, the turgor pressure is the pressure exerted by protoplasm on cell walls when they absorb water via the membrane of the cell.

Flaccid

• Flaccid corresponds to a cell lacking turgidity. They are not plump and swollen but floppy or loose, and cells have drawn in and pulled away from the cell wall.
• It takes place when plant cells are in isotonic solutions.
• It is the condition between plasmolysis and turgidity wherein its plasma membrane is not forced against the cell wall.
• As water potential in cells is greater compared to the outside solution, the molecules of water from the cytoplasm, through exosmosis, exit the cell. This, to a degree, decreases the turgor pressure.
• The water movement however persists till the water potential on either side of the plasma membrane gets equal. Hence, when cells are flaccid, there is an absence of total water movement through the plasma membrane.

Plasmolysed

• Here, cells of plants tend to lose cytoplasmic water when in hypertonic solutions
• The outside solution’s solute concentration is greater compared to the cytoplasm; hence, the greater the cytoplasm’s water potential. Consequently, the water molecules pass across the membrane of the cell to the surrounding solution till the outside and inside water potential is equalised.
• The activity of water movement via a semipermeable membrane is referred to as osmosis. As osmosis takes place to the outside, it is referred to as exosmosis here. Further, water loss causes the cytoplasm’s turgor pressure to drop eventually.

Difference between Flaccid and Plasmolysed

Find below the main differences between Flaccid and Plasmolysed.

These were some differences between Flaccid and Plasmolysed. For more such articles, visit us at BYJU’S NEET.

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