https://www.academia.edu/36514226/I...verse_osmosis_in_humans_surviving_the_Miocene
Infiltrating transdermal reverse osmosis in humans; surviving the Miocene
Abstract
Reverse osmosis is a well documented function of the eccrine glands. The epithelial sodium channels in the apical membranes of the eccrine gland ducts reabsorb salt before perspiration is excreted to maintain water and salt homeostasis.
[1]
A series of experiments was devised to determine the following matters: whether water can be absorbed through the skin; if so whether the amount of water absorbed is sufficient for normal hydration and thirdly whether reverse osmosis can operate in both directions, that is, whether a person immersed in sea water could absorb water through the sweat glands and, if so, whether surplus salt would be excreted via the kidneys or filtered out by the sodium channels before absorption. An adult male subject underwent a series of immersions and measurements were taken of changes in weight and the quantity and density of urine produced. It was found that fresh water was absorbed at a rate sufficient to maintain normal hydration in both fresh and salt water. In evolutionary terms this mechanism would have provided a means of surviving a drought of any duration simply by adapting to a seafood diet, whereas land based hominins would perish after just a few days without water.
Infiltrating transdermal reverse osmosis in humans; surviving the Miocene
Abstract
Reverse osmosis is a well documented function of the eccrine glands. The epithelial sodium channels in the apical membranes of the eccrine gland ducts reabsorb salt before perspiration is excreted to maintain water and salt homeostasis.
[1]
A series of experiments was devised to determine the following matters: whether water can be absorbed through the skin; if so whether the amount of water absorbed is sufficient for normal hydration and thirdly whether reverse osmosis can operate in both directions, that is, whether a person immersed in sea water could absorb water through the sweat glands and, if so, whether surplus salt would be excreted via the kidneys or filtered out by the sodium channels before absorption. An adult male subject underwent a series of immersions and measurements were taken of changes in weight and the quantity and density of urine produced. It was found that fresh water was absorbed at a rate sufficient to maintain normal hydration in both fresh and salt water. In evolutionary terms this mechanism would have provided a means of surviving a drought of any duration simply by adapting to a seafood diet, whereas land based hominins would perish after just a few days without water.