Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Physiology Having extreme muscular or arterial tension.
  • adjective Chemistry Having the higher osmotic pressure of two solutions.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In physical chemistry, having a greater osmotic pressure than some solution regarded as a standard. See isotonic, 2.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Physiology, Biochemistry) Having a higher osmotic pressure than a comparison solution; -- of an aqueous solution. Increasing the concentration of dissolved solids increases the osmotic pressure, and thus the tonicity of a solution. Opposite of hypotonic and contrasting with isotonic.
  • noun Having an osmotic pressure greater than that of blood plasma, which is approximately that of a 0.2 normal solution of sodium chloride. Cells taken from a medium of normal physiological osmolality and placed in a hypertonic medium will shrink.
  • noun in a state of abnormally high tension; -- of muscle.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective of a solution having a greater osmotic pressure than another
  • adjective anatomy having a very high muscular tension; spastic

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective (of living tissue) in a state of abnormally high tension
  • adjective (of a solution) having a higher osmotic pressure than a comparison solution

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Without their knowledge, local trauma patients who meet the criteria to be in the study are randomly assigned to receive an IV drip of normal saline solution or one of two types of "hypertonic" saline solution.

    NEWS updates from www.voiceofsandiego.org 2008

  • For years, the solution, known as hypertonic fluid, has been thought to improve blood flow in the brain while relieving intracranial pressure, both of which have been believed to be helpful in patients with traumatic brain injury.

    Saline Fluid Fails in Brain Therapy Thomas M. Burton 2010

  • "The question was whether that hypertonic blast would be the magic bullet, but the answer is no."

    Saline Fluid Fails in Brain Therapy Thomas M. Burton 2010

  • "At present there appears to be no compelling reason to adopt a practice of hypertonic fluid resuscitation for TBI [traumatic brain injury] in the out-of-hospital setting."

    Saline Fluid Fails in Brain Therapy Thomas M. Burton 2010

  • In the study on hypertonic fluids, 1,282 patients treated by 114 paramedic agencies were given either standard saline or hypertonic solutions, which contained eight times as much saline.

    Saline Fluid Fails in Brain Therapy Thomas M. Burton 2010

  • Dr. Mayer and University of Washington surgery Prof. Eileen M. Bulger, who conducted this study, said hypertonic fluids still may have a role in treating severely injured, hospitalized patients with elevated intra-cranial pressure ..

    Saline Fluid Fails in Brain Therapy Thomas M. Burton 2010

  • I worked in a nursing home for many years, and among the demented and hypertonic lived two young men one in his twenties and one in his forties, both of whom had spinal cord/closed head injuries.

    A Proposal: NHP = DNR 1 Dinosaur 2008

  • This discovery led researchers to develop a hypertonic saline solution, which when inhaled recreates the effect of a typical "surf session," and is now used by cystic fibrosis patients around the world. 


    Stacie Krajchir: What Quiksilver Taught Me About Cystic Fibrosis 2008

  • The probable mechanism of DKA in the above case was physical stress from hypertonic dehydration due to a combination of poor fluid intake, vomiting and hyperglycemia from the high carbohydrate meal supplement in the setting of insulin resistance due to obesity.

    I’ll see your ketoacidosis and raise you a renal failure | The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D. 2006

  • Zubieta and colleagues examined the effect of deep sustained pain — produced by a prolonged infusion of 5 percent hypertonic saline into the masseter muscle –with or without a placebo in young male volunteers.

    Placebo Effect may actually be Physical | Impact Lab 2005

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