[30] ATP-driven chloride pump in giant alga Acetabularia. Biomembranes Part U: Cellular and Subcellular Transport: Eukaryotic (Nonepithelial) Cells. Elsevier; 1989. pp. 490-504. [DOI: 10.1016/0076-6879(89)74033-7]

Effects of light and inhibitors of ATP-synthesis on the chloride carrier of the alga Valonia utricularis: is the carrier a chloride pump?

The effect of metabolic inhibitors, such as cyanide, antimycin A and azide was studied on the chloride transport system of the giant marine alga Valonia utricularis by using the charge pulse relaxation method. Two clearly defined voltage relaxations were resolved. The addition of 10-30 microM cyanide to the artificial sea water (ASW) bathing the algal cells increased the time constants of the slow voltage relaxation, tau 2, significantly when the algal cells were kept in the dark. The cyanide-effect reached a plateau value at 100-300 microM and was fully reversible when cyanide was removed from the ASW. Analysis of the charge pulse data in terms of the Läuger-model demonstrated that the translocation rates of the free, kS, and the charged carrier, kAS, decreased. The decrease of kS was more pronounced than that of kAS. 10 microM antimycin A and 3 mM azide had similar effects on the rate constants when the light was switched off. Upon illumination the cyanide- and antimycin A-, but not the azide-mediated effects disappeared. At concentrations higher than 1 mM cyanide caused a further, dramatic decrease of kS and kAS, while the surface concentration of the carrier molecules, N0, was not affected. This cyanide-effect was also reversible, but not light-dependent. Measurements of the ATP level showed that 3 mM cyanide reduced the ATP level by about 70% both under light and dark conditions. In the presence of 30 microM cyanide (or 10 microM antimycin A) the ATP level decreased by about 50%, but only in the dark. These results suggest two different effects of cyanide on the Cl(-)-carrier system: in the micromolar concentration range cyanide (and antimycin A) reduced predominantly the translocation of the free carrier by inhibition of ATP synthesis by oxidative phosphorylation, whereas in the millimolar concentration range cyanide apparently inhibits the translocation rates of both the free and charged carriers by its binding to the carrier. The results provide some evidence that the chloride transport of V. utricularis could be coupled to metabolic energy but it is an open question whether it is a pump or not.

Characterization of the chloride carrier in the plasmalemma of the alga Valonia utricularis: the inhibition by 4,4'-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid

The effect of the anion transport inhibitor 4,4'-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid (DIDS) on the Cl(-)-transport system located in the plasmalemma of cells of the giant marine alga Valonia utricularis was studied by using the charge pulse relaxation technique. Analysis of the biphasic relaxation patterns in terms of the kinetic model published previously (Wang, J., Wehner, G., Benz, R. and Zimmermann, U. (1991) Biophys. J. 59, 235-248) demonstrated that extracellular DIDS dramatically reduced the translocation rate, KAS, of the Cl(-)-carrier complex (maximal inhibition 79%). The translocation rate of the free carrier molecules, KS, as well as the total surface concentration of the carrier, No, were not affected. A Hill-plot of DIDS inhibition on KAS yielded an half-maximal inhibition concentration (IC50) of 3.9 x 10(-5) M and Hill-coefficient of 1.61, suggesting a co-operative binding of the inhibitors to the Cl(-)-carrier. The maximal inhibition of DIDS was dependent on the extracellular Cl(-)-concentration. This inhibition was not competitive to chloride, since it increased and did not decrease with increasing chloride concentration. The DIDS effect decreased with increasing pH-value (investigated pH range between 6.5 and 10). Intravascular DIDS or SITS (4-acetamido-4'-isothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid) had no effect on the biphasic voltage relaxation pattern. These results showed that the binding sites of DIDS must be located on the outer surface of the plasmalemma of V. utricularis and, in turn, supported previous conclusions that the Cl(-)-carrier (which is assumed to be part of the turgor-pressure-sensing mechanism) is only located in the outer membrane.

Action potentials in Acetabularia: measurement and simulation of voltage-gated fluxes

Amounts and temporal changes of the release of the tracer ions K+ (86Rb+), 22Na+, and 36Cl- as well as of H+ in the course of action potentials in Acetabularia have been recorded. New results and model calculations confirm in quantitative terms the involvement of three major ion transport systems X in the plasmalemma: Cl- pumps, K+ channels, and Cl- channels (which are marked in the following by the prefixes, P, K and C) with their equilibrium voltages XVe and voltage/time-dependent conductances, which can be described by the following, first approximation. Let the maximum (ohmic) conductance of each of the three populations of transporter species be about the same (pL, KL, CL = 1) but voltage gating be different: the pump (pVe about -200 mV) being inactivated (open, o----closed, c) at positive going transmembrane voltages, Vm; the K+ channels (KVe about -100 mV) are inactivated at negative going Vm; and the Cl- channels (CVe: around 0 mV), which are normally closed (c) at a resting Vm (near pVe) go through an intermediate open (o) state at more positive Vm before they enter a third "shut" state (s) in series. Model calculations, in which voltage sensitivities are expressed by the factor f = exp(VmF/(2RT], simulate the action potential fairly well with the following parameters (pkco: 10/fks-1, pkoc: 1000.f ks-1, Kkco: 200.f ks-1, Kkoc: 2/f ks-1, ckco: 500.f ks-1, fkoc: 5/f ks-1, Cks0: 0.1/f ks-1,Ckos: 20.f ks-1). It is also shown that the charge balance for the huge transient Cl- efflux, which frequently occurs during an action potential, can be accounted for by the observation of a corresponding release of Na+.

Ion fluxes in Acetabularia: vesicular shuttle

Ion flux relations in the unicellular marine alga Acetabularia have been investigated by uptake and washout kinetics of radioactive tracers (22Na+, 42K+, 36Cl- and 86Rb+) in normal cells and in cell segments with altered compartmentation (depleted of vacuole or of cytoplasm). Some flux experiments were supplemented by simultaneous electrophysiological recordings. The main results and conclusions about the steady-state relations are: the plasmalemma is the dominating barrier for translocation of K+ with influx and efflux of about 100 nmol.m-2.sec-1. K+ passes three- to sevenfold more easily than Rb+ does. Under normal conditions, Cl- (the substrate of the electrogenic pump, which dominates the electrical properties of the plasmalemma in the resting state) shows two efflux components of about 17 and 2 mumol.m-2.sec-1, and a cytoplasmic as well as vacuolar [Cl-] of about 420 mM ([Cl-]o = 529 mM). At 4 degrees C, when the pump is inhibited, both influx and efflux, as well as the cellular [Cl-], are significantly reduced. Na+ ([Na+]i: about 70 mM, [Na+]o: 461 mM), which is of minor electrophysiological relevance compared to K+, exhibits rapid and virtually temperature-insensitive (electroneutral) exchange (two components with about 2 and 0.2 mumol.m-2.sec-1 for influx and efflux). Some results with Na+ and Cl- are inconsistent with conventional (noncyclic) compartmentation models: (i) equilibration of the vacuole (with the external medium) can be faster than equilibration of the cytoplasm, (ii) absurd concentration values result when calculated by conventional compartmental analysis, and (iii) large amounts of ions can be released from the cell without changes in the electrical potential of the cytoplasm. These observations can be explained by the particular compartmentation of normal Acetabularia cells (as known by electron micrographs) with about 1 part cytoplasm, 5 parts central vacuole, and 5 parts vacuolar vesicles. These vesicles communicate directly with the central vacuole, with the cytoplasm and with the external medium.