Vacuole - Vacuole

Vacuole

Vacuole
Academic Kids Encyclopedia

Vacuoles are large membrane-bound compartments within some eukaryotic cells where they serve a variety of different functions: capturing food materials or unwanted structural debris surrounding the cell, sequestering materials that might be toxic to the cell, maintaining fluid balance (called turgor) within the cell, exporting unwanted substances from the cell, or even determining relative cell size. The cavity that is the vacuole is considered nonprotoplasmic and the contents classified as ergastic according to some authors (Esau, 1965). Vacuoles are especially conspicuous in most plant cells.

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