isotonicadj.

1828 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. (at cited word) The isotonic system, in music, consists of intervals, in which each concord is alike tempered, and in which there are twelve equal semitones.

1895 Jrnl. Physiol. 18 107 None of the water is taken up from hypertonic or isotonic solutions.

1898 T. C. Allbutt Syst. Med. v. 461 Determination of the isotonic coefficient of the red corpuscles is another method of blood examination.

1899 J. Cagney tr. R. von Jaksch Clin. Diagnosis (ed. 4) i. 16 Mention must be made of v. Limbeck's researches on the subject of the resistence of the red corpuscles and the isotonic property of blood-serum.

1902 J. H. Poynting & J. J. Thomson Text-bk. Physics: Properties of Matter xvi. 190 A series of solutions can be prepared which are isotonic with each other.

1936 A. P. Mathews Princ. Biochem. xxxiv. 364 Practically all the secretions of the body, except the urine, as for example the bile, the pancreatic juice, the saliva and so on, have the same osmotic pressure as the blood. They are isotonic with the blood.

1951 H. Davson Textbk. Gen. Physiol. vii. 159 For marine eggs the isotonic concentration will generally be approximately 0·5 M salts or 1 M non-electrolyte.

1951 H. Davson Textbk. Gen. Physiol. vii. 158 In isotonic glycerol solution the cell is unstable because no osmotic equilibrium is possible.

1969 J. H. Green Basic Clin. Physiol. vi. 37/1 The sodium chloride is present in plasma to the extent of 0·9 g. per 100 ml. A solution containing this amount of sodium chloride in water is termed normal, isotonic, or physiological saline, and it has the same electrolyte strength as blood. Such a solution..could be run into the veins of a patient, whereas pure distilled water would destroy the red blood cells by the process of haemolysis.

1972 Nature 17 Mar. 117/2 Each animal received an intraperitoneal injection of ethanol (4 g kg⁻¹, 25% v/v solution in isotonic saline).

1891 A. D. Waller Introd. Human Physiol. ix. 330 If a muscle contracts against a small and constant resistance, so as to be extended by a constant force during its contraction, the curve described by a light lever attached to it is termed ‘isotonic’.

1900 J. S. Burdon-Sanderson Schäfer's Text-bk. Physiol. II. 353 If, before and during excitation, its opposite attachments are so fixed that they cannot be brought nearer together by the effort of the muscle to contract, the excitation of the muscle is said to occur under isometric conditions. If, on the other hand, one end of the muscle is left free, so that it can shorten on excitation, and in so doing lift a weight which is attached to it, the excitation is said to take place under isotonic conditions.

1939 Jrnl. Physiol. 96 63 The relation between applied force and speed of isotonic shortening was studied in frog and tortoise muscle.

1951 H. Davson Textbk. Gen. Physiol. xvii. 481 A record of an isometric twitch is thus a record of changes in tension of the muscle, whilst that for an isotonic twitch is a record of changes in length.

1971 A. C. Guyton Basic Human Physiol. vii. 77/1 In comparing the rapidity of contraction of different types of muscles, isometric recordings..are usually used instead of isotonic recordings, because the duration of an isotonic recording is almost as dependent on the inertia of the recording system as upon the contraction itself.