Fluid compartments

The human body and even its individual body fluids may be conceptually divided into various fluid compartments, which,
although not literally anatomic compartments, do represent a real division in terms of how portions of the body's water, solutes,
and suspended elements are segregated. The two main fluid compartments are the intracellular and extracellular compartments.
The intracellular compartment is the space within the organism's cells; it is separated from the extracellular compartment by cell
membranes.[1]

About two thirds of the total body water of humans is held in the cells, mostly in the cytosol, and the remainder is found in the
extracellular compartment. The extracellular fluids may be divided into three types: interstitial fluid in the "interstitial
compartment" (surrounding tissue cells and bathing them in a solution of nutrients and other chemicals), blood plasma and lymph
in the "intravascular compartment" (inside the blood vessels and lymphatic vessels), and small amounts of transcellular fluid such
as ocular and cerebrospinal fluids in the "transcellular compartment". The interstitial and intravascular compartments readily
exchange water and solutes but the third extracellular compartment, the transcellular, is thought of as separate from the other two
and not in dynamic equilibrium with them.[2]

Contents
Intracellular compartment
Extracellular compartment
Interstitial compartment
Intravascular compartment
Transcellular compartment
Fluid shift
Third spacing
See also
References

Intracellular compartment
The intracellular fluid, also known as cytosol, is all fluid contained inside the cells.[3] It is the matrix in which cellular organelles
are suspended. The cytosol and organelles together compose the cytoplasm. The cell membranes are the outer barrier. In humans,
the intracellular compartment contains on average about 8 litres of fluid, and under ordinary circumstances remains in osmotic
equilibrium. It contains moderate quantities of magnesium and sulphate ions.

In the cell nucleus the fluid component of the nucleoplasm is called the nucleosol.

Extracellular compartment
The interstitial, intravascular and transcellular compartments comprise the extracellular compartment. Its extracellular fluid
(ECF) contains about one-third of total body water.

Interstitial compartment
The interstitial compartment (also called "tissue space") surrounds tissue cells. It is filled with interstitial fluid. Interstitial fluid
provides the immediate microenvironment that allows for movement of ions, proteins and nutrients across the cell barrier. This
fluid is not static, but is continually being refreshed by the blood capillaries and recollected by lymphatic capillaries. In the
average male (70 kg) human body, the interstitial space has approximately 10.5 litres of fluid.

Intravascular compartment
The main intravascular fluid in mammals is blood, a complex mixture with elements of a suspension (blood cells), colloid
(globulins), and solutes (glucose and ions). The blood represents both the intracellular compartment (the fluid inside the blood
cells) and the extracellular compartment (the blood plasma). The other intravascular fluid is lymph. It too represents both the
intracellular compartment (the fluid inside its lymphocytes) and the extracellular compartment (the noncellular matrix of the
lymph, which is roughly equivalent to serum). The average volume of plasma in the average (70 kg) male is approximately 3.5
liters. The volume of the intravascular compartment is regulated in part by hydrostatic pressure gradients, and by reabsorption by
the kidneys.

Transcellular compartment
The third extracellular compartment, the transcellular, consists of those spaces in the body where fluid does not normally collect
in larger amounts,[4][5] or where any significant fluid collection is physiologically nonfunctional.[6] Examples of transcellular
spaces include the eye, the central nervous system, the peritoneal and pleural cavities, and the joint capsules. A small amount of
fluid, called transcellular fluid, does exist normally in such spaces. For example, the aqueous humor, the vitreous humor, the
cerebrospinal fluid, the serous fluid produced by the serous membranes, and the synovial fluid produced by the synovial
membranes are all transcellular fluids. They are all very important, yet there is not much of each. For example, there is only about
150 mL of cerebrospinal fluid in the entire central nervous system at any moment. All of the aforementioned fluids are produced
by active cellular processes working with blood plasma as the raw material, and they are all more or less similar to blood plasma
except for certain modifications tailored to their function. For example, the cerebrospinal fluid is made by various cells of the
CNS, mostly the ependymal cells, from blood plasma.

Fluid shift
Fluid shifts occur when the body's fluids move between the fluid compartments. Physiologically, this occurs by a combination of
hydrostatic pressure gradients and osmotic pressure gradients. Water will move from one space into the next passively across a
semi permeable membrane until the hydrostatic and osmotic pressure gradients balance each other. Many medical conditions can
cause fluid shifts. When fluid moves out of the intravascular compartment (the blood vessels), blood pressure can drop to
dangerously low levels, endangering critical organs such as the brain, heart and kidneys; when it shifts out of the cells (the
intracellular compartment), cellular processes slow down or cease from intracellular dehydration; when excessive fluid
accumulates in the interstitial space, oedema develops; and fluid shifts into the brain cells can cause increased cranial pressure.
Fluid shifts may be compensated by fluid replacement or diuretics.

Third spacing
"Third spacing" is the abnormal accumulation of fluid into an extracellular and extravascular space. In medicine, the term is often
used with regard to loss of fluid into interstitial spaces, such as with burns or edema, but it can also refer to fluid shifts into a
body cavity (transcellular space), such as ascites and pleural effusions. With regard to severe burns, fluids may pool on the burn
site (i.e. fluid lying outside of the interstitial tissue, exposed to evaporation) and cause depletion of the fluids. With pancreatitis or
ileus, fluids may "leak out" into the peritoneal cavity, also causing depletion of the intracellular, interstitial or vascular
compartments.
Patients who undergo long, difficult operations in large surgical fields can collect third-space fluids and become intravascularly
depleted despite large volumes of intravenous fluid and blood replacement.

The precise volume of fluid in a patient's third spaces changes over time and is difficult to accurately quantify.

Third spacing conditions may include peritonitis, pyometritis, and pleural effusions.[7] Hydrocephalus and glaucoma are
theoretically forms of third spacing, but the volumes are too small to induce significant shifts in blood volumes, or overall body
volumes, and thus are generally not referred to as third spacing.

See also
Volume of distribution
Compartment (pharmacokinetics)

References
1. Rodney A. Rhoades; David R. Bell (18 January 2012). Medical Phisiology: Principles for Clinical Medicine (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=1kGcFOKCUzkC&pg=PA5). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. pp. 5–6. ISBN 978-1-
60913-427-3.
2. Jacob M, Chappell D, Rehm M (2009). "The 'third space'--fact or fiction?". Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol. 23
(2): 145–57. PMID 19653435 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19653435).
3. Brown, Thomas A. (2011). Rapid Review Physiology (https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=mr1KI4lFYekC&pg=PA
2). Elsevier Health Sciences. p. 2. ISBN 0323072607.
4. Barbara Kuhn Timby (1 January 2008). Fundamental Nursing Skills and Concepts (https://books.google.com/boo
ks?id=M4HwH5IxfToC&pg=PA319). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. pp. 319–. ISBN 978-0-7817-7909-8. Retrieved
9 June 2010.
5. Redden M, Wotton K (June 2002). "Third-space fluid shift in elderly patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery:
Part 1: Pathophysiological mechanisms". Contemp Nurse. 12 (3): 275–83. PMID 12219956 (https://www.ncbi.nl
m.nih.gov/pubmed/12219956).
6. Drain, Cecil B. (2003). Perianesthesia nursing: a critical care approach. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Co. ISBN 0-
7216-9257-5. [1] (https://books.google.com/books?id=vy9K9cWnsV0C)
7. "FLUID AND ELECTROLYTE THERAPY" (http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/clinsci/wing/fluids/fluids.htm).
Retrieved 2010-06-08.

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