Active NaCl absorption across split lamellae of posterior gills of the chinese crab Eriocheir sinensis: stimulation by eyestalk extract.

Split lamellae of the posterior gills of freshwater-adapted Chinese crabs (Eriocheir sinensis) were mounted in a modified Ussing-type chamber, and active and electrogenic absorption of Na(+) and Cl(-) were measured as positive (I(Na)) or negative (I(Cl)) short-circuit currents. Haemolymph-side addition of eyestalk extract stimulated I(Cl) by increasing both the transcellular Cl(-) conductance and the electromotive force for Cl(-) absorption. The effect was dose-dependent. Boiling the eyestalk extract did not change its effectiveness. The stimulating factor passed through dialysis tubing, indicating that it has a molecular mass of less than 2 kDa. R(p)cAMPS, a blocker of protein kinase A, reduced the stimulated I(Cl). Eyestalk extract stimulated I(Na) by increasing the transcellular Na(+) conductance at constant electromotive force. Amiloride-induced current-noise analysis revealed that stimulation of I(Na) was accompanied by an increase in the apparent number of open apical Na(+) channels at a slightly reduced single-channel current. In addition to the electrophysiological experiments, whole gills were perfused in the presence and in the absence of putative transport stimulators, and the specific activities of the V-ATPase and the Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase were measured. Eyestalk extract, theophylline or dibutyryl-cyclic AMP stimulated the activity of the V-ATPase, whereas the activity of the Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase was unaffected. The simultaneous presence of R(p)cAMPS prevented the stimulation of V-ATPase by eyestalk extract or theophylline.

A V-ATPase drives active, electrogenic and Na+-independent Cl- absorption across the gills of Eriocheir sinensis

Using biochemical and electrophysiological techniques, we have examined the proposal that an H+-ATPase is involved in Cl- uptake across the gills of the Chinese crab Eriocheir sinensis. Bafilomycin A1 (1 µmol l-1), a specific inhibitor of V-ATPases, was used to investigate the importance of this H+-translocating enzyme in Cl- transport across the gill. In homogenates of ion-transporting posterior gills, we found the activity of a bafilomycin-sensitive V-ATPase to be markedly higher than in the anterior gills, which are not involved in ion transport. A similar distribution was found for the Na+/K+- and the mitochondrial F1Fo-ATPase. After differential and density centrifugation, the specific activity of the V-ATPase was enriched by a factor of 5. Neither Na+/K+- and F1Fo-ATPase activities nor acid phosphatase activity copurified with the bafilomycin-sensitive ATPase activity, indicating that at least the major portion of V-ATPase activity is not of basolateral, mitochondrial or lysosomal origin. In fluorescence studies, using Acridine Orange or Oxonol V as dyes, membrane vesicles displayed ATP-dependent proton transport and membrane potential generation, which were markedly reduced in the presence of bafilomycin. In addition to these biochemical studies, we mounted split lamellae of posterior gills in an Ussing-type chamber and measured the negative short-circuit current (Isc), which was shown to reflect active, electrogenic, Na+-independent and ouabain-insensitive Cl- absorption. After the addition of 1 µmol l-1 bafilomycin to the external bath, this Isc was reduced to about 50­60 % of its original value. Concomitantly, the conductance of the preparation decreased by about 13 %. From these results, we conclude that an apical V-ATPase drives electrogenic Cl- uptake across the posterior gills of the Chinese crab.

A vacuolar-type proton pump energizes K+/H+ antiport in an animal plasma membrane.

In this paper we demonstrate that a vacuolar-type H(+)-ATPase energizes secondary active transport in an insect plasma membrane and thus we provide an alternative to the classical concept of plasma membrane energization in animal cells by the Na+/K(+)-ATPase. We investigated ATP-dependent and -independent vesicle acidification, monitored with fluorescent acridine orange, in a highly purified K(+)-transporting goblet cell apical membrane preparation of tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) midgut. ATP-dependent proton transport was shown to be catalyzed by a vacuolar-type ATPase as deduced from its sensitivity to submicromolar concentrations of bafilomycin A1. ATP-independent amiloride-sensitive proton transport into the vesicle interior was dependent on an outward-directed K+ gradient across the vesicle membrane. This K(+)-dependent proton transport may be interpreted as K+/H+ antiport because it exhibited the same sensitivity to amiloride and the same cation specificity as the K(+)-dependent dissipation of a pH gradient generated by the vacuolar-type proton pump. The vacuolar-type ATPase is exclusively a proton pump because it could acidify vesicles independent of the extravesicular K+ concentration, provided that the antiport was inhibited by amiloride. Polyclonal antibodies against the purified vacuolar-type ATPase inhibited ATPase activity and ATP-dependent proton transport, but not K+/H+ antiport, suggesting that the antiporter and the ATPase are two different molecular entities. Experiments in which fluorescent oxonol V was used as an indicator of a vesicle-interior positive membrane potential provided evidence for the electrogenicity of K+/H+ antiport and suggested that more than one H+ is exchanged for one K+ during a reaction cycle. Both the generation of the K+ gradient-dependent membrane potential and the vesicle acidification were sensitive to harmaline, a typical inhibitor of Na(+)-dependent transport processes including Na+/H+ antiport. Our results led to the hypothesis that active and electrogenic K+ secretion in the tobacco hornworm midgut results from electrogenic K+/nH+ antiport which is energized by the electrical component of the proton-motive force generated by the electrogenic vacuolar-type proton pump.