Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1992 Apr 15;89(8):3635–3638. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.8.3635

Calcium uptake in the skin of a freshwater teleost.

S D McCormick 1, S Hasegawa 1, T Hirano 1
PMCID: PMC48923  PMID: 1565659

Abstract

The skin, particularly the opercular membrane of some teleosts, contains mitochondrion-rich "chloride" cells and has been widely used as a model to study branchial salt-extrusion mechanisms in seawater fish. Skin isolated from the operculum of the freshwater Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) can transport Ca2+ against an ionic and electrical gradient. Adaptation of Nile tilapia to a low-Ca2+ environment increased the capacity of the opercular membrane to transport Ca2+. The density of mitochondrion-rich cells increased in parallel with Ca2+ transport capacity. The results demonstrate net Ca2+ uptake by vertebrate skin and strongly implicate mitochondrion-rich cells as the site of Ca2+ uptake in fresh water.

Full text

PDF
3635

Images in this article

3637Image
on p.3637

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. BURNS J., COPELAND D. E. Chloride excretion in the head region of fundulus heteroclitus. Biol Bull. 1950 Dec;99(3):381–385. doi: 10.2307/1538468. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bereiter-Hahn J. Dimethylaminostyrylmethylpyridiniumiodine (daspmi) as a fluorescent probe for mitochondria in situ. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1976 Jan 15;423(1):1–14. doi: 10.1016/0005-2728(76)90096-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dharmamba M., Bornancin M., Maetz J. Environmental salinity and sodium and chloride exchanges across the gill of Tilapia mossambica. J Physiol (Paris) 1975 Dec;70(5):627–635. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Flik G., Fenwick J. C., Kolar Z., Mayer-Gostan N., Wendelaar Bonga S. E. Whole-body calcium flux rates in cichlid teleost fish Oreochromis mossambicus adapted to freshwater. Am J Physiol. 1985 Oct;249(4 Pt 2):R432–R437. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.1985.249.4.R432. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Flik G., Perry S. F. Cortisol stimulates whole body calcium uptake and the branchial calcium pump in freshwater rainbow trout. J Endocrinol. 1989 Jan;120(1):75–82. doi: 10.1677/joe.0.1200075. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Flik G., Wendelaar Bonga S. E., Fenwick J. C. Active Ca2+ transport in plasma membranes of branchial epithelium of the North-American eel, Anguilla rostrata LeSueur. Biol Cell. 1985;55(3):265–272. doi: 10.1111/j.1768-322x.1985.tb00436.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Foskett J. K., Machen T. E., Bern H. A. Chloride secretion and conductance of teleost opercular membrane: effects of prolactin. Am J Physiol. 1982 Mar;242(3):R380–R389. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.1982.242.3.R380. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Foskett J. K., Scheffey C. The chloride cell: definitive identification as the salt-secretory cell in teleosts. Science. 1982 Jan 8;215(4529):164–166. doi: 10.1126/science.7053566. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Ichii T., Mugiya Y. Effects of a dietary deficiency in calcium on growth and calcium uptake from the aquatic environment in the goldfish, Carassius auratus. Comp Biochem Physiol A Comp Physiol. 1983;74(2):259–262. doi: 10.1016/0300-9629(83)90597-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Karnaky K. J., Jr, Degnan K. J., Garretson L. T., Zadunaisky J. A. Identification and quantification of mitochondria-rich cells in transporting epithelia. Am J Physiol. 1984 May;246(5 Pt 2):R770–R775. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.1984.246.5.R770. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Karnaky K. J., Jr, Degnan K. J., Zadunaisky J. A. Chloride transport across isolated opercular epithelium of killifish: a membrane rich in chloride cells. Science. 1977 Jan 14;195(4274):203–205. doi: 10.1126/science.831273. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Keys A., Willmer E. N. "Chloride secreting cells" in the gills of fishes, with special reference to the common eel. J Physiol. 1932 Nov 5;76(3):368–378.2. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1932.sp002932. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. McCormick S. D. Cortisol directly stimulates differentiation of chloride cells in tilapia opercular membrane. Am J Physiol. 1990 Oct;259(4 Pt 2):R857–R863. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.1990.259.4.R857. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. McCormick S. D. Fluorescent labelling of Na+, K(+)-ATPase in intact cells by use of a fluorescent derivative of ouabain: salinity and teleost chloride cells. Cell Tissue Res. 1990 May;260(3):529–533. doi: 10.1007/BF00297233. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Naon R., Mayer-Gostan N. Ca2+-stimulated ATPase activities in the gill of the eel: interactions of Mg2+ ions. Am J Physiol. 1989 Feb;256(2 Pt 2):R313–R322. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.1989.256.2.R313. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Payan P., Mayer-Gostan N., Pang P. K. Site of calcium uptake in the fresh water trout gill. J Exp Zool. 1981 May;216(2):345–347. doi: 10.1002/jez.1402160219. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Perry S. F., Flik G. Characterization of branchial transepithelial calcium fluxes in freshwater trout, Salmo gairdneri. Am J Physiol. 1988 Mar;254(3 Pt 2):R491–R498. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.1988.254.3.R491. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Watlington C. O., Burke P. K., Estep H. L. Calcium flux in isolated frog skin; the effect of parathyroid substances. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1968 Jul;128(3):853–856. doi: 10.3181/00379727-128-33141. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Young P. S., McCormick S. D., Demarest J. R., Lin R. J., Nishioka R. S., Bern H. A. Effects of salinity, hypophysectomy, and prolactin on whole-animal transepithelial potential in the tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus. Gen Comp Endocrinol. 1988 Sep;71(3):389–397. doi: 10.1016/0016-6480(88)90267-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Zadunaisky J. A., Lande M. A. Calcium content and exchange in amphibian skin and its isolated epithelium. Am J Physiol. 1972 May;222(5):1309–1315. doi: 10.1152/ajplegacy.1972.222.5.1309. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES