What Does Crenation Mean?

The contraction of cells inside the animals in a hypertonic solution is known as Crenation. This Crenation takes place due to the loss of water which occurs through the process Osmosis. The word has its origin from the Latin word 'crenatus', which means notched or scalloped.

This process is named Crenation as after the process the cells are Scalloped Edged. Crenation mainly occurs because in an environment which is hypertonic, osmosis causes a movement of the water which is outside of the cell. This causes the cytoplasm to reduce in size, as a result of this the size of the cell also decreases. The major effects of Crenation are very much visible in red blood cells. The Red Blood Cells become distorted and look as if they have legs extending from smaller area in the center.