An animal cell will shrink if it is placed in a saline/ salty solution (hypertonic solution). The salt will absorb the water from the cell through osmosis.
A solution with higher solute concentration is called as hypertonic solution while the one with less solute concentration is termed as hypotonic solution. Osmotic movement of water occurs from hypotonic to hypertonic solution to balance the concentration of solution. When an animal cell is placed in a hypertonic solution, it loses water through osmosis and shrinks.
