Bathing Solution Tonicity and Potassium Transport by the Midgut of the Tobacco Hornworm Manduca Sexta

1979 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 213-223
Author(s):  
DAVID F. MOFFETT

Potassium transport by the isolated midgut of Manduca larvae, as measured by the short circuit current, is inhibited by substitution of small organic solutes (M.W. < 340) for the sucrose normally included in bathing solution formulated for this tissue. Other solutes of molecular weight equal to or greater than sucrose are essentially as effective as sucrose in promoting the short circuit current. Equilibration of midgut in solutions containing the small solute mannitol results in a decrease in the dry weight/wet weight ratio of the tissue, suggesting that the small solutes can penetrate into areas of the tissue which are not accessible to sucrose. Histological studies suggest that sites of swelling in the presence of mannitol include both cytoplasm and goblet cell lumen. The inhibition of the short circuit current is rapidly reversible on return to bathing solution containing sucrose or another large solute. The effect of small solutes probably does not involve compromise of the energy source for potassium transport since oxygen uptake is unchanged in the presence of a small solute.

1975 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-320
Author(s):  
J. L. Wood ◽  
A. M. Jungreis ◽  
W. R. Harvey

1. The 28Mg-measured net flux of magnesium from lumen-side to haemolymph-side of the isolated and short-circuited midgut was 1.97 +/− 0.28 mu-equiv cm(−2) /(−1) in 8 mM-Mg2+. 2. The magnesium-influx shows a delay before the tracer steady-state is attained, indicating the existence of a magnesium-transport pool equivalent to 6.7 mu-equiv/g wet weight of midgut tissue. 3. Magnesium depresses the short-circuit current produced the midgut but not the potassium transport, the depression being equal to the rate of magnesium transport. 4. Magnesium transport yields a linear Lineweaver-Burk plot with an apparent Km of 34 mM-Mg2+ and an apparent Vmax of 14.9 mu-equiv cm(−1) /(−1). 5. Magnesium is actively transported across the midgut and contributes to the regulation of the haemolymph magnesium concentration in vivo.


1990 ◽  
Vol 258 (1) ◽  
pp. R112-R119
Author(s):  
A. C. Chao ◽  
A. R. Koch ◽  
D. F. Moffett

Basal membrane voltage (Vb), intracellular K+ activity [(K+)i], and short-circuit current (Isc) were measured in isolated posterior midguts of Manduca sexta wherein Isc is a measured of active secretion of K+ from blood into lumen. When bathed in 32 mM K+ and exposed to 100% O2, average values were Isc = 244 microAmp/cm2, Vb = -33.1 mV, and (K+)i = 88.6 mM. The electrochemical gradient across the basal membrane (d mu) averaged +5.8 mV (a gradient favorable for K+ entry). Exposure to 5% O2 led to a new steady state in which Isc = 71 microAmp/cm2, Vb = -18.7 mV, and (K+)i = 99.4 mM. During hypoxia, d mu averaged -9.9 mV (a gradient unfavorable for K+ entry). When the external bathing solution was 10 mM K+, comparable values were, for 100% O2, Isc = 139 microAmp/cm2, Vb = -56.1 mV, (K+)i = 72.2 mM, and d mu = +3.6 mV, and in 5% O2 the values were Isc = 28.3 microAmp/cm2, Vb = -43.7 mV, (K+)i = 76.1 mM, and d mu = -10.2 mV. The failure of cellular K+ to fall during prolonged hypoxia is evidence for a thermodynamically active basal K+ uptake process.


1979 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. 293-304
Author(s):  
WILLIAM R. HARVEY ◽  
MICHAEL G. WOLFERSBERGER

After incubation at pH 10 or higher, Bacillus thuringiensis spores and endotoxin, at concentrations above 0.1 IU/ml, affected transport parameters in the isolated midgut of Manduca sexta larvae. (Toxic activity was lost during roughly 1 week at pH 11.) About 60% of the short-circuit current was in-hibited, and the remainder was reversibly inhibited by anoxia. Electrical resistance was reduced by about 55% and oxygen uptake stimulated by about 30%. Influx of potassium from blood-side to lumen-side (‘active’ flux) was unaffected but flux in the reverse direction was nearly tripled. These results suggest that hydrolysis of the toxin yields an inhibitor of potassium transport, presumably a polypeptide. It is argued that inhibition is not primarily by uncoupling of oxidative phosporylation, but instead by inter-ference with an active depression of the efflux of potassium from lumen-side to blood-side.


1981 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-116
Author(s):  
MOIRA CIOFFI ◽  
WILLIAM R. HARVEY

1. Active potassium transport across the isolated midgut of the Tobacco Hornworm larva, Manduca sexta, was studied by measuring the short circuit current (ISC) and unidirectional 42-potassium fluxes. 2. The midgut is composed of structurally distinct anterior, middle and posterior regions, all of which are shown to transport potassium, so that by comparing and contrasting their structural and functional properties new information on the mechanism of midgut potassium transport was obtained. 3. It has previously been shown that the potassium pump is located on the apical membrane of the goblet cell. In the anterior and middle regions of the midgut the goblet cell has a large cavity and mitochondria are closely associated with the apical membrane while in the posterior midgut the goblet cavity is much smaller, and mitochondria are not associated with the apical membrane. However, the apical membrane particles which have been implicated in active potassium transport in a number of other insect epithelia are present in all three regions. This observation suggests that the particles are a structural requirement for active transport, and that close association between mitochondria and the transporting membrane is not essential. 4. Comparison of the kinetic influx pool size and the differences in the ISC decay profiles between the three midgut regions suggest that part of the influx pool is a transported pool located in the goblet cavity. 5. A new model to explain the driving force for potassium transport in the midgut is proposed, in which the rate of potassium transport controls the entrance of potassium into the cell, rather than the opposite, currently accepted view.


1958 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 383-395
Author(s):  
R. W. EDWARDS

1. The oxygen consumption rates of 3rd- and 4th-instar larvae of Chironomus riparius have been measured at 10 and 20° C. using a constant-volume respirometer. 2. The oxygen consumption is approximately proportional to the 0.7 power of the dry weight: it is not proportional to the estimated surface area. 3. This relationship between oxygen consumption and dry weight is the same at 10 and at 20° C.. 4. The rate of oxygen consumption at 20° C. is greater than at 10° C. by a factor of 2.6. 5. During growth the percentage of dry matter of 4th-instar larvae increases from 10 to 16 and the specific gravity from 1.030 to 1.043. 6. The change in the dry weight/wet weight ratio during the 4 larval instar supports the theory of heterauxesis. 7. At 20° C., ‘summer’ larvae respire faster than ‘winter’ larvae.


1988 ◽  
Vol 255 (2) ◽  
pp. G247-G252 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. N. Charney ◽  
J. I. Scheide ◽  
P. M. Ingrassia ◽  
J. A. Zadunaisky

Chloride absorption in the small intestine of the winter flounder, Pseudopleuronectes americanus, is reported to be sensitive to ambient pH. We studied this sensitivity in isolated stripped intestinal mucosa mounted in modified Ussing chambers. Unidirectional 36Cl fluxes (JClm----s, JCls----m) were measured under short-circuited conditions in bathing solutions containing various combinations of HCO3- (0-20 mM), partial pressure of CO2 (0-36 mmHg), and pH (6.77-7.85). We found that JClm----s, net 36Cl flux (JClnet), and short-circuit current (Isc) increased and JCls----m decreased predominately in response to increases in bathing solution pH. There was a linear relationship between pH and both JClnet (r = 0.92, P less than 0.01) and Isc (r = 0.96, P less than 0.005) between pH 6.77 and 7.74. The pH effect was completely reversible, did not require either CO2 or HCO3-, and was not affected by the presence of mucosal barium at 1 mM. Mucosal bumetanide (0.1 mM) completely inhibited the pH effect. These data suggest that the process by which Cl- is absorbed in the flounder intestine is sensitive to pH. The data do not indicate whether pH affects Na+-K+-2Cl- cotransport or a Cl- transport pathway in series with this process. The direction of Cl- absorption in response to pH contrasts with inverse relation of pH and Cl- absorption in mammalian small intestine.


1988 ◽  
Vol 137 (1) ◽  
pp. 277-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. N. Crawford ◽  
W. R. Harvey

Ba2+ and Ca2+ prevent and reverse the Btk delta-endotoxin inhibition of the short-circuit current in isolated lepidopteran midgut. These findings support the K+ pump-leak steady-state model for midgut K+ homeostasis and the K+ channel mechanism of Bt toxin action. They provide a new tool with which to study the interactions between Bt toxin and midgut cell membranes.


1968 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
W. R. HARVEY ◽  
J. A. HASKELL ◽  
S. NEDERGAARD

1. From two lines of evidence, we conclude that the potassium transport gives rise directly to the midgut potential, i.e. that the active potassium transport mechanism is electrogenic. 2. First, diffusion potentials of neither potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, nor chloride could give rise to the large midgut potential if values for tissue concentrations are accepted for their respective activities in the epithelium. 3. Secondly, no externally added cation other than potassium is required to sustain either the potential or short circuit current, no specific anion is required, and no metabolic ion is known to be produced in sufficient amount to act as a counter ion for potassium in a non-electrogenic process. 4. Changes in the concentration of potassium on the blood-side of the midgut always lead to changes in potential in the direction predicted by the Nernst equation. Moreover, a tenfold change in potassium concentration leads to the expected 59 mV. potential change provided that the prior midgut potential is at least 130 mV. This effect could be attributed either to the stimulation of an electrogenic potassium pump or to a potassium diffusion potential across the blood-side barrier.


1985 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-152
Author(s):  
B.L. Gupta ◽  
J.A. Dow ◽  
T.A. Hall ◽  
W.R. Harvey

An alkaline hydrolysate of Bacillus thuringiensis var kurstaki HD1 (Btk) parasporal crystals was administered at 25 micrograms ml-1 (f.c.) to isolated, short-circuited, midguts of tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) larvae. The short-circuit current (s.c.c.), a precise measure of K+ active transport, was inhibited by 78% in 10 min in Btk-treated midguts as compared to controls. The elemental concentrations of K, together with Na, Mg, P, S, Cl and Ca, as well as the water content, were determined by electron probe X-ray microanalysis (EPXMA) in the muscle cells, columnar cells and goblet cells, as well as in the extracellular goblet cavity and the bathing media. The average K concentration in the goblet cell cavity was 129 mmol/kg wet wt in control midguts but only 37 mmol/kg wet wt in Btk-treated midguts. The elemental concentrations, including that of K, in other cell compartments were much less affected by Btk, but a rise in total cell calcium is suggested. It has been previously suggested that in vitro Btk acts specifically on limited regions of the apical membrane of the midgut epithelial cells. The simplest interpretation of the EPXMA results would be that initially Btk interacts specifically with the goblet cell apical membrane, which bounds the goblet cavity and contains the K+ pump responsible for the s.c.c. and high transepithelial potential difference (p.d.). Such interaction results in a rapid disruption of K+ transport across the goblet cell apical membrane, leading to dissipation of the K+ gradient and loss of p.d. The histopathological changes previously reported by other workers would then be a consequence of K+ pump inhibition causing changes in the intracellular pH, Ca2+ etc. Some possible molecular bases for these specific interactions between Btk and cell membrane are discussed.


1983 ◽  
Vol 244 (6) ◽  
pp. F639-F645 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Welsh

Addition of barium ion, Ba2+, to the submucosal bathing solution of canine tracheal epithelium reversibly decreased the short-circuit current and increased transepithelial resistance. The decrease in short-circuit current represented a decrease in the net rate of Cl secretion with no change in the rate of Na absorption. Intracellular microelectrode techniques and an equivalent electrical circuit analysis were used to localize the effect of Ba2+ to an inhibition of the permeability of the basolateral membrane to K. Ba2+ (2 mM) doubled basolateral membrane resistance, decreased the equivalent electromotive force at the basolateral membrane, and decreased the magnitude of the depolarization of basolateral membrane voltage produced by increasing the submucosal K concentration. The inhibition of the basolateral K permeability depolarized the negative intracellular voltage, resulting in both a decrease in the driving force for Cl exit and an estimated increase in intracellular Cl concentration. These studies indicate that there is a Ba2+-inhibitable K conductance at the basolateral membrane of tracheal epithelial cells and that the K permeability plays an important role in the generation of the negative intracellular electrical potential that provides the driving force for Cl exit from the cell.


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