An endurance athlete hydrates excessively with only water, diluting their extracellular fluid. Which effect is most likely to occur due to increased osmosis across cell membranes?

💡 Explanation

Diluting the extracellular fluid creates a hypotonic environment, because water will move into cells via osmosis, following the concentration gradient. Therefore, cells swell and can lyse, rather than sodium reabsorption or hormone secretion being directly affected.

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