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Medical Definition of Ionic strength
1. Symbolised as g/2 or I and set equal to 0.5σmizi2, where mi equals the molar concentration and zi the charge of each ion present in solution; if molar concentrations (ci) are used instead of molality (and the solution is dilute), then I == 0.5(1/ρo)σcizi2 where ρo is the density of the solvent; a number of biochemically important events (e.g., protein solubility and rates of enzyme action) vary with the ionic strength of a solution. (05 Mar 2000)