While aquaporin (AQP) gating dynamically regulates transmembrane water permeability for cellular homeostasis, its mechanisms remain poorly understood compared to ion channels. A central challenge is the lack of methods to measure water flow through AQPs with the spatiotemporal resolution and sensitivity equivalent to patch-clamp recordings of ion fluxes, a limitation stemming from the electrically silent nature of water transport. We introduce a technique to rapidly detect cytoplasmic flows induced by osmotic-gradient-driven transmembrane water transport in single adherent human cancer cells. This approach enables direct measurement of AQP-mediated water transport and provides a powerful tool to investigate AQP function and regulation and cytoplasmic flow dynamics at the single-cell level.
@article{arxiv.2508.00104,
title = {Rapid Single-Cell Measurement of Transient Transmembrane Water Flow under Osmotic Gradient},
author = {Hong Jiang and Jinnawat Jongkhumkrong and Y. J. Chao and Qian Wang and Guiren Wang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.00104},
year = {2025}
}