Comparative methodological investigations on the cytochemical localization of calcium in brain and inner ear of cichlid fish

Ultrastructure of the calcium-sequestering gastrodermal cell in the hydroidHydractinia symbiolongicarpus (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa)

Large, free-floating crystals of calcium carbonate occur in vacuoles of gastrodermal cells of the hydroid Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus. Here, morphological details about the process by which these cells accumulate and sequester calcium are provided by a cytochemical method designed to demonstrate calcium at the ultrastructural level. Electron-dense material presumably indicative of the presence of calcium was EGTA-sensitive and was shown by parallel electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and energy spectroscopic imaging (ESI) to contain calcium. Calcium occurred in only one cell type, the endodermally derived gastrodermal cell. In these cells, the electron-dense material appeared first as a fine precipitate in the cytosol and nucleus and later as larger deposits and aggregates in the vacuole. During the life cycle, gastrodermal cells of the uninduced planula and the planula during metamorphic induction sequestered calcium. In primary polyps and polyps from established colonies, gastrodermal cells sequestered calcium, but the endodermal secretory cells did not. Our observations support the hypothesis that gastrodermal cells function as a physiological sink for calcium that enters the organism in conjunction with calcium-requiring processes such as motility, secretion, and metamorphosis.

Intracellular calcium redistribution accompanies changes in total tissue Na+, K+ and water during the first two hours of in vitro incubation of hippocampal slices

Changes of total tissue water, Ca, Na and K contents were monitored in whole transverse hippocampal slices of the guinea-pig during the first 2 h of in vitro incubation. A brief, 75% increase in tissue Ca was noted during the initial 15 min of maintenance, in contrast to a permanent increase of sodium and water contents, coupled to simultaneous decrease of potassium level. The rate of tissue Na, K and water changes comprised a rapid phase at the first 10-20 min, parallel with the increase of the tissue Ca content, and a slow phase during the rest of the incubation period. Development of specific morphological alterations, representative of ischemic/hypoxic lesions and a translocation of calcium from cytoplasm to mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum during slice maintenance, was also detected by electron microscopy. A two-step mechanism might explain the development of a new steady-state total calcium content of slices. in which the cellular Ca2+ uptake at the beginning of incubation, likely triggered by hypoxic/ ischemic trauma of slice preparation, is followed by a balanced Ca2+ influx, extrusion and sequestration (predominantly into mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum) during maintenance.