Osmosis in: Animal Cells

1) Animal cells also take in and lose water by osmosis. They do not have a cell wall, so will change size and shape when put into solutions that are at a different concentration to the cell contents. Red Blood cells can: - lose water and shrink - gain water, swell and burst in a more dilute solution 2) In animals, the concentration of body fluids – blood plasma and tissue fluid – must be kept within strict limits, if cells lose or gain too much water by osmosis, they do not function efficiently