Sodium–hydrogen exchangers in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans: investigations towards their potential role in hypodermal H+ excretion, Na+ uptake, and ammonia excretion, as well as acid–base balance

2017 ◽  
Vol 95 (9) ◽  
pp. 623-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aida Adlimoghaddam ◽  
Michael J. O’Donnell ◽  
Alex Quijada-Rodriguez ◽  
Dirk Weihrauch

Cation/proton exchangers of the cation proton antiporter 1 (CPA1) subfamily (NHEs, SLC 9) play an important role in many physiological processes, including cell volume regulation, acid–base homeostasis, and ammonia excretion. The soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (Maupas, 1900) (N2, 1968) expresses nine paralogues (NHX-1 to NHX-9). The current study was undertaken to investigate the role of the cation/proton exchanger in hypodermal Na+ and H+ fluxes, as well in ammonia excretion processes. Measurements using SIET (scanning ion-selective electrode technique) showed that the hypodermis promotes H+ secretion and Na+ uptake. Inhibitory effects on fluxes were observed upon application of amiloride but not EIPA, suggesting that NHXs are not involved in the transport processes. In response to stress induced by starvation or exposure to 1 mmol·L−1 NH4Cl, pH 5.5, or pH 8.0, body pH stayed fairly constant, with changes in mRNA expression levels detected in intestinal NHX-2 and hypodermal NHX-3. In conclusion, the study suggest that hypodermal apically localized EIPA-sensitive Na+/H+ exchangers do not likely play a role in ammonia excretion and Na+ uptake in the hypodermis of C. elegans, whereas apical amiloride-sensitive Na+ channels seem to be involved not just in hypodermal Na+ uptake but indirectly also in NH4+ and H+ excretion.

Physiology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 367-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian L. Seifter ◽  
Hsin-Yun Chang

Clinical assessment of acid-base disorders depends on measurements made in the blood, part of the extracellular compartment. Yet much of the metabolic importance of these disorders concerns intracellular events. Intracellular and interstitial compartment acid-base balance is complex and heterogeneous. This review considers the determinants of the extracellular fluid pH related to the ion transport processes at the interface of cells and the interstitial fluid, and between epithelial cells lining the transcellular contents of the gastrointestinal and urinary tracts that open to the external environment. The generation of acid-base disorders and the associated disruption of electrolyte balance are considered in the context of these membrane transporters. This review suggests a process of internal and external balance for pH regulation, similar to that of potassium. The role of secretory gastrointestinal epithelia and renal epithelia with respect to normal pH homeostasis and clinical disorders are considered. Electroneutrality of electrolytes in the ECF is discussed in the context of reciprocal changes in Cl−or non Cl−anions and [Formula: see text].


2000 ◽  
Vol 203 (16) ◽  
pp. 2467-2478 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.A. Van Voorhies ◽  
S. Ward

This study examined the effects of oxygen tensions ranging from 0 to 90 kPa on the metabolic rate (rate of carbon dioxide production), movement and survivorship of the free-living soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. C. elegans requires oxygen to develop and survive. However, it can maintain a normal metabolic rate at oxygen levels of 3.6 kPa and has near-normal metabolic rates at oxygen levels as low as 2 kPa. The ability to withstand low ambient oxygen levels appears to be a consequence of the small body size of C. elegans, which allows diffusion to supply oxygen readily to the cells without requiring any specialized respiratory or metabolic adaptations. Thus, the small size of this organism pre-adapts C. elegans to living in soil environments that commonly become hypoxic. Movement in C. elegans appears to have a relatively minor metabolic cost. Several developmental stages of C. elegans were able to withstand up to 24 h of anoxia without major mortality. Longer periods of anoxia significantly increased mortality, particularly for eggs. Remarkably, long-term exposure to 100 % oxygen had no effect on the metabolic rate of C. elegans, and populations were able to survive for a least 50 generations in 100 % (90 kPa) oxygen. Such hyperoxic conditions are fatal to most organisms within a short period.


1978 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Okumura ◽  
D. Hewitt ◽  
Marie E. Coates

1. Groups of three colostomized germ-free (GF) and conventional (CV) chickens aged 4 months were maintained for successive periods of 8 d on a diet containing 200 g casein/kg without and with sodium bicarbonate at the rate of 20 mmol/d and a nitrogen-free diet without and with NaHCO3at 9 mmol/d. Urine and faeces were collected during the last 3 d of each period.2. Total N, uric acid- and ammonia-N were determined in urine and total N in faeces. Amino acids were measured in hydrolysates of faeces collected during the periods when no NaHCO3was included in the diets.3. The CV birds excreted more N on the casein diets but less on the N-free diets than did their GF counterparts, the differences being mainly shown in the urine.4. On both diets hydrolysates of the faeces of CV birds contained smaller amounts of amino acids. On the N-free diet the proportions (g/160 g N) of serine, proline and threonine were reduced, suggesting some conservation of endogenous N by micro-organisms, and the proportions of histidine, alanine, lysine and methionine increased, possibly through microbial synthesis; on the casein diet, proportions of most amino acids were less, probably because bacterial deamination had occurred.5. Urinary excretion of total N, uric acid and ammonia was much greater on the casein than on the N-free diets. Inclusion of NaHCO3caused a sharp fall in urinary ammonia on both diets and in both environments.6. It was concluded that the level of dietary protein and the regulation of acid-base balance have more effect than microbial activity on the urinary ammonia excretion.


1961 ◽  
Vol 201 (6) ◽  
pp. 980-986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hisato Yoshimura ◽  
Masateru Yata ◽  
Minoru Yuasa ◽  
Robert A. Wolbach

Renal mechanisms for the maintenance of acid-base balance were studied in the normal bullfrog, during metabolic and respiratory acidosis, and after carbonic anhydrase inhibition. Following intravenous administration of 0.3–12 mmole HCl/ kg, as 0.1 n HCl, urinary pH (initially pH 6.3–7.7) did not change significantly. However, urinary ammonia excretion increased more than twofold, and within 3–5 days the cumulative increase was equivalent to the acid load given. Despite the increased ammonia excretion, chloride excretion did not increase after acid loading. In both normal and acidotic bullfrogs ammonia excretion was correlated with an increase in urinary pH. Respiratory acidosis in the small frog, Rana limnocharis, produced by exposure to 6.4% CO2 in air, induced neither urinary acidification nor increased ammonia excretion; both urinary sodium and bicarbonate excretion increased. When renal carbonic anhydrase was inhibited by acetazoleamide injection, urine flow, sodium excretion, and bicarbonate excretion increased markedly, urinary pH increased slightly, and urinary ammonia excretion remained unchanged. These renal responses to acidosis are compared with those of the acidotic dog.


Development ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 97 (Supplement) ◽  
pp. 31-44
Author(s):  
Einhard Schierenberg

How the complex, multicellular structure of an organism is generated from the information contained in the uncleaved egg is a central question in developmental studies. Nematodes are particularly suitable for studying this question. A unique combination of favourable properties, including transparent eggshell, normal embryogenesis under the microscope outside the mother, small number of cells and rapid, reproducible development made nematodes classic models for developmental biologists (for reviews see Chitwood & Chitwood, 1974; von Ehrenstein & Schierenberg, 1980). In addition to the attractive features mentioned above, the free-living soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (Fig. 1) is also well suited for analysis of the genetic control of development (Brenner, 1974) unlike the classically studied parasitic nematode Parascaris equorum (Ascaris megalocephala). Recently cellular (e.g. Sulston, Schierenberg, White & Thomson, 1983) and genetic (e.g. Sternberg & Horvitz, 1984) aspects of development have been studied extensively in C. elegans.


2021 ◽  
Vol 320 (1) ◽  
pp. R55-R68
Author(s):  
Alex M. Zimmer ◽  
Milica Mandic ◽  
Hong Meng Yew ◽  
Emma Kunert ◽  
Yihang K. Pan ◽  
...  

In fishes, branchial cytosolic carbonic anhydrase (CA) plays an important role in ion and acid-base regulation. The Ca17a isoform in zebrafish ( Danio rerio) is expressed abundantly in Na+-absorbing/H+-secreting H+-ATPase-rich (HR) cells. The present study aimed to identify the role of Ca17a in ion and acid-base regulation across life stages using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing. However, in preliminary experiments, we established that ca17a knockout is lethal with ca17a−/− mutants exhibiting a significant decrease in survival beginning at ∼12 days postfertilization (dpf) and with no individuals surviving past 19 dpf. Based on these findings, we hypothesized that ca17a−/− mutants would display alterations in ion and acid-base balance and that these physiological disturbances might underlie their early demise. Na+ uptake rates were significantly increased by up to 300% in homozygous mutants compared with wild-type individuals at 4 and 9 dpf; however, whole body Na+ content remained constant. While Cl− uptake was significantly reduced in ca17a−/− mutants, Cl− content was unaffected. Reduction of CA activity by Ca17a morpholino knockdown or ethoxzolamide treatments similarly reduced Cl− uptake, implicating Ca17a in the mechanism of Cl− uptake by larval zebrafish. H+ secretion, O2 consumption, CO2 excretion, and ammonia excretion were generally unaltered in ca17a−/− mutants. In conclusion, while the loss of Ca17a caused marked changes in ion uptake rates, providing strong evidence for a Ca17a-dependent Cl− uptake mechanism, the underlying causes of the lethality of this mutation in zebrafish remain unclear.


1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (12) ◽  
pp. 2699-2708 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. G. McDonald ◽  
E. T. Prior

Blood acid–base balance and branchial fluxes of Na+, Cl−, and acidic equivalents were examined in rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) in response to variations in external [NaCl] and following experimental acid or base loads (intravascular infusion of ammonium sulphate, lactic acid, or sodium bicarbonate). NaCl influx, NaCl efflux, and ammonia excretion covaried with external [NaCl]. Large fluxes of acidic equivalents across the gills were produced by infusion of both ammonium sulphate and sodium bicarbonate, but both treatments had little effect upon Na+ and Cl− uptake. We interpret this result as indicating that apical [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] exchange played little role in the branchial clearance of acidic equivalents. Instead, the results are consistent with the notion that acidic equivalents were excreted via diffusion through paracellular channels. A model is presented which suggests that the paracellular channels are the normal route for ionic efflux across the gills and that excretion of acidic equivalents results from modulation of the permselectivity of this pathway.


2020 ◽  
Vol 97 (2) ◽  
pp. 304-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yohan Bignon ◽  
Laurent Pinelli ◽  
Nadia Frachon ◽  
Olivier Lahuna ◽  
Lucile Figueres ◽  
...  

2008 ◽  
Vol 294 (5) ◽  
pp. F1009-F1031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ira Kurtz ◽  
Jeffrey Kraut ◽  
Vahram Ornekian ◽  
Minhtri K. Nguyen

When approaching the analysis of disorders of acid-base balance, physical chemists, physiologists, and clinicians, tend to focus on different aspects of the relevant phenomenology. The physical chemist focuses on a quantitative understanding of proton hydration and aqueous proton transfer reactions that alter the acidity of a given solution. The physiologist focuses on molecular, cellular, and whole organ transport processes that modulate the acidity of a given body fluid compartment. The clinician emphasizes the diagnosis, clinical causes, and most appropriate treatment of acid-base disturbances. Historically, two different conceptual frameworks have evolved among clinicians and physiologists for interpreting acid-base phenomena. The traditional or bicarbonate-centered framework relies quantitatively on the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation, whereas the Stewart or strong ion approach utilizes either the original Stewart equation or its simplified version derived by Constable. In this review, the concepts underlying the bicarbonate-centered and Stewart formulations are analyzed in detail, emphasizing the differences in how each approach characterizes acid-base phenomenology at the molecular level, tissue level, and in the clinical realm. A quantitative comparison of the equations that are currently used in the literature to calculate H+concentration ([H+]) is included to clear up some of the misconceptions that currently exist in this area. Our analysis demonstrates that while the principle of electroneutrality plays a central role in the strong ion formulation, electroneutrality mechanistically does not dictate a specific [H+], and the strong ion and bicarbonate-centered approaches are quantitatively identical even in the presence of nonbicarbonate buffers. Finally, our analysis indicates that the bicarbonate-centered approach utilizing the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation is a mechanistic formulation that reflects the underlying acid-base phenomenology.


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