Studies on Sodium Balance in Gammarus Duebeni Lilljeborg and G. Pulex Pulex (L.)

1961 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
J. SHAW ◽  
D. W. SUTCLIFFE

1. The mechanisms of sodium balance in Gammarus duebeni and G. pulex, adapted to various external concentrations, were compared. 2. G. duebeni could be adapted to live in 1 mm/l. NaCl solution and, in some cases, to concentrations down to 0.2 mM/l. G. pulex could survive in concentrations as low as 0.06 mM/l. 3. The sodium loss rate in G. duebeni adapted to 2% sea water was much higher than in G. pulex but was reduced to about the same level when the animals were adapted to low external concentrations. 4. In both species there was a non-linear relationship between sodium influx and the external sodium concentration. In G. duebeni the uptake mechanism was saturated at an external concentration of about 10 mM/l., whereas in G. pulex saturation was reached at a much lower concentration. The maximum rate of uptake was greater in G. duebeni than in G. pulex. 5. In both species adaptation to low concentrations involved a small increase in the sodium influx and a reduction in the loss rate. 6. The most important factor in the superiority of G. pulex over G. duebeni in surviving at low external concentrations is the high affinity for sodium displayed by the uptake mechanism in G. pulex.

1961 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-152
Author(s):  
J. SHAW

1. The mechanism of sodium balance in Carcinus maenas has been investigated. 2. Measurements of sodium outflux showed no evidence of a decrease in surface permeability to sodium in dilute sea water. 3. The rate of urine production in normal sea water was 3.6% body weight per day and the sodium loss through the urine was insignificant compared with the total sodium loss. In 40% sea water the urine rate was increased to 30% body weight per day and the loss in the urine accounted for 20% of the total loss. 4. Measurements of sodium influx and calculation of the active component showed that the active uptake mechanism was fully saturated at all external concentrations in which the animals could survive. 5. Regulation of the blood sodium concentration is effected largely by the activation of the sodium uptake mechanism. This prevents the blood concentration falling below a critical level as long as the external concentration itself is not too low.


1967 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 519-528
Author(s):  
D. W. SUTCLIFFE ◽  
J. SHAW

1. The sodium balance mechanism of Gammarus lacustris in fresh water is virtually identical with that found in G. pulex. 2. The sodium transporting system at the body surface has a very high affinity for sodium ions. The system is half-saturated at an external concentration of about 0.14 mM/l. and fully saturated at about 1 mM/l. sodium. 3. The lowest external concentration at which sodium balance was maintained was 0.06 mM/l. 4. Both the total sodium loss rate and the sodium influx rate remained approximately constant in animals acclimatized to the range of external concentrations from 2 to 0.3 mM/l. NaCl. At lower concentrations the loss rate was reduced and the influx increased by a factor of about 1.5. 5. Changes in the sodium influx and loss rates are very closely linked together, and it is shown how these changes are related to the external sodium concentration.


1967 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 499-518
Author(s):  
D. W. SUTCLIFFE

1. Sodium influx and loss rates in Gammarus pulex were measured at constant temperatures. The sodium loss rate was immediately influenced by a change in temperature, with a Q10 of 1.5 to 2.0 at temperatures between 0.3 and 21.5° C. The sodium influx rate is apparently influenced in the same way. 2. The sodium uptake mechanism in G. pulex from three localities was half-saturated at an external concentration of 0.10-0.15 mM/l. sodium. 3. The total sodium loss rate remained approximately constant in animals acclimatized to the range of external concentrations from 2 to about 0.2 mM/l. sodium. 18% of the sodium was lost in urine with a sodium concentration estimated at 30-50 mM/l. The remainder of the sodium loss was due to diffusion across the body surface. 4. In animals acclimatized to concentrations below about 0.2 mM/l. sodium the sodium loss rate was reduced, due to (a) a lower diffusion rate following a fall in the blood sodium concentration, and (b) the elaboration of a more dilute urine. 5. There was a very close association between changes in the blood sodium concentration, the elaboration of a very dilute urine, and the rate of sodium uptake at the body surface. The results indicate that a fall in the blood sodium concentration leads to simultaneous activation of the sodium uptake mechanisms at the body surface and in the antennary glands. 6. It is estimated that, by producing a dilute urine, total sodium uptake in G. pulex is shared equally between the renal uptake mechanism and the mechanism situated at the body surface. 7. In sea-water media G. pulex drinks and expels fluid from the gut. In a medium slightly hyperosmotic to the normal blood concentration the amount imbibed was equal to the normal rate of urine flow when in fresh water.


1970 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER GREENAWAY

1. Sodium regulation in normal, sodium-depleted and blood-depleted snails has been investigated. 2. Limnaea stagnalis has a sodium uptake mechanism with a high affinity for sodium ions, near maximum influx occurring in external sodium concentrations of 1.5-2 mM-Na/l and half maximum influx at 0.25 mM-Na/l. 3. L. stagnalis can maintain sodium balance in media containing 0.025 mM-Na/l. Adaptation to this concentration is achieved mainly by an increased rate of sodium uptake and a fall of 37 % in blood sodium concentration, but also by a reduction of the sodium loss rate and a decrease in blood volume. 4. A loss of 23% of total body sodium is necessary to stimulate increased sodium uptake. This loss causes near maximal stimulation of the sodium uptake mechanism. 5. An experimentally induced reduction of blood volume in L. stagnalis increases sodium uptake to three times the normal level. 6. About 40% of sodium influx from artificial tap water containing 0.35 mM-Na/l into normal snails is due to an exchange component. Similar exchange components of sodium influx were also observed in sodium-depleted and blood-depleted snails in the same external sodium concentration.


1970 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-290
Author(s):  
R. MORRIS ◽  
J. M. BULL

1. Sodium influx in ammocoete larvae increases exponentially with external sodium concentration (0-1.0 mM/l.) and sodium-depleted animals show a 20% increase compared with normal animals. 2. Sodium loss decreases as the environmental concentration decreases, although the reverse situation is expected from considering diffusion outflux alone. 3. It is argued that part of the sodium loss is back-transported by the transport mechanism and this accounts for the reduced sodium loss from sodium-depleted animals whose sodium carrier activity is increased. The curves relating back-transport to environmental sodium differ from those derived by Kirschner for isolated frog skin. 4. Sodium influx increases as sodium loss increases, indicating a self mechanism whose features are discussed. In the ammocoete, the sodium carrier mechanism appears to change in affinity for sodium (short-term response) and can also change in concentration (long-term response), and it is suggested that these features, together with permeability changes, may form the basis of the controlling mechanism for sodium balance.


1960 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 548-556
Author(s):  
J. SHAW

1. The effect of various cations in the external solution on the sodium influx in the crayfish, Astacus pallipes, has been studied. 2. Potassium in concentrations up to 4 mM./l. has no significant effect on the sodium influx from 0.05 mM./l. NaCl solutions. 3. Calcium has no effect on the influx in concentrations up to 1 mM./l. At higher concentrations the influx may be reduced in some cases. 4. Magnesium generally increases the influx by about 30%. The effect is not related to the external concentration. 5. Ammonium ions reduce sodium influx. With an ammonium/sodium concentraton ratio of 20:1 the influx is reduced to about 20% of normal. Ammonium ions do not affect the sodium loss rate. 6. Simple substituted ammonium compounds have little effect on the influx. 7. The external hydrogen ion concentration reduces sodium influx if the pH is below 6. At pH 4 the influx is reduced to 20-30% of normal. A low pH does not decrease the rate of sodium loss. 8. The nature of the specific inhibition of sodium influx by ammonium ions is discussed. It is suggested that the ammonium ions interfere with a normal sodium ammonium exchange mechanism.


1975 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-155
Author(s):  
DA Wright

In comparison with other freshwater animals, the sodium uptake mechanism in fourth instar larvae of both C. tentans and C. dorsalis has a moderate affinity for sodium. In both species half maximum influx (Km) occurs at about 0.57 mM-Na+ and is unaltered by salt depletion. Maximum influx is achieved in steady-state C. tentans at 1.9 mM-Na+, and in steady-state C. dorsalis at 3.0 mM-Na+. Both of these values increase on depletion. Efflux also appears to be saturable at higher external sodium concentrations. In C. tentans, sodium may be transported independently of chloride, although it seems likely that sodium movement is enhanced by chloride. Sulphate strongly inhibits sodium influx. Nitrate apparently inhibits sodium influx at low concentrations, but this inhibition is progressively overcome at external sodium concentrations approaching 4 mM. A number of cations interfere with sodium influx in depleted C. tentans, notably H+, Li+ and, to a lesser extent NH4+. It is suggested that these ions compete with sodium for carrier sites. Potassium is apparently transported independently of sodium.


1959 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. SHAW

1. The effects of external and internal sodium concentrations on the uptake of sodium ions by the crayfish, Astacus pallipes, has been studied. 2. The normal sodium influx, measured with 24Na, from O.3 mM /l. NaCl solution is 1.5 µM./10 g. body weight/hr. The rate of loss of sodium to de-ionized water has roughly the same value. 3. Net loss of sodium reduces the external sodium concentration required for sodium balance. The minimum equilibrium concentration is about 0.04 mM./l. NaCl. 4. The relation between the external sodium concentration and the sodium influx is non-linear. The influx has a maximum of about 10 µM./10 g./hr. at an external concentration of approx. 1 mM./l. 5. The 24Na influx is a true measure of the sodium uptake rate at low external concentrations. At higher concentrations the influx may exceed the uptake rate by some 20%. 6. Net loss of sodium increases the influx by three to five times. Loss of 5-10% of the total internal sodium increases the influx from the normal to the maximum level. A 1% change has a significant effect on the influx. Changes in the internal sodium content reflect changes of the blood sodium concentration. 7. A scheme is suggested whereby the external and internal sodium concentrations interact together on the influx to produce a self-regulating system which maintains the animal in sodium balance.


1968 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-358
Author(s):  
D. W. SUTCLIFFE ◽  
J. SHAW

1. A quantitative study of sodium influx and loss was made on populations of Gammarus duebeni obtained from four freshwater localities in Ireland. 2. Characteristic features of sodium regulation in animals from the four localities were as follows, (a) The sodium influx increases gradually with increasing external sodium concentrations, but a maximum (saturation) level is abruptly reached at an external concentration of 1-2 mM/l. and the transporting system is half saturated at about 0.5 mM/l. sodium, (b) Over the range of sodium concentrations found in fresh waters a low rate of sodium uptake is sufficient to balance sodium losses at concentrations down to between 0.5 and 0.25 mM/l. At lower concentrations the influx is increased and the loss rate is reduced. (c) Calculations suggest that hypotonic urine containing approximately 40 mM/l sodium is produced at external concentrations ranging from fresh water to 40 % sea water. At external concentrations below 0.25 mM/l. sodium the urine concentration is probably reduced to well below 40 mM/l. sodium. 3. A detailed comparison is made of sodium regulation at external concentrations ranging between 0.07 and 1 mM/l. sodium in G. duebeni from fresh water in Ireland and from fresh water and brackish water in Britain. It is suggested that G. duebeni in Ireland constitutes a distinct physiological race adapted for living in fresh waters with relatively low sodium concentrations.


1968 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. C. CROGHAN ◽  
A. P. M. LOCKWOOD

1. The isopod Mesidotea entomon has colonized the Baltic and certain Swedish lakes since the end of the last Ice Age. 2. The ionic regulation of Baltic animals and fresh-water animals (L. Mälaren) has been compared. 3. It has been possible to adapt Baltic animals to very dilute media, but 5% Askö sea water (5.5 mM/l. Na) appears to be the limit of adaptation. The haemolymph sodium concentration of Baltic animals from the very dilute media was considerably lowered. 4. The haemolymph sodium concentration in Mälaren animals is high (250 mM/l. Na) and comparable with that in Baltic animals in much more concentrated solution. The haemolymph ionic ratios of the Baltic and freshwater animals are similar. The Cl:Na ratio rises slightly in the more concentrated haemolymph samples. 5. From the concentration of ions in the haemolymph and in the total body water, the relative volume of the haemolymph was calculated. Mälaren animals appear to have a much larger haemolymph volume. 6. The permeability of the animals was determined from the rate of loss of sodium into de-ionized water. The permeability of the Mälaren animals is considerably reduced compared to the Baltic animals. Permeability is not related to the medium to which the animals had been adapted. 7. The sodium influx was determined using 22Na. The rate of active uptake was calculated from this. The maximal rate of active uptake was similar in Baltic and Mälaren animals. The sodium concentration of the medium at which active uptake was half maximum (KM) was considerably lower in Malaren animals than in Baltic animals. 8. The evolution of Mesidotea as a fresh-water animal is interpreted as a result of a reduction in permeability of the external surfaces to NaCl and an increase in the affinity of the active transport mechanism enabling the animal to maintain the haemolymph NaCl concentration in a steady state in fresh water.


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