FINE STRUCTURAL LOCALIZATION OF NUCLEOSIDE PHOSPHATASE ACTIVITY IN THE URINARY BLADDER OF THE TOAD

Isolation of radio-iodinated apical and basal-lateral plasma membranes of toad bladder epithelium

The apical and basal-lateral plasma membranes of toad bladder epithelium were radio-iodinated with the glucose-glucose oxidase-lactoperoxidase system. The covalently bound radio iodine was used as a marker during subcellular fractionation and membrane isolation. Homogenization conditions that ensured rupture of more than 80% of the cells without substantial nuclear damage were defined by Normarski optics. The nuclei were separated by differential centrifugation and the apical and basal-lateral components were resolved by differential and sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The apical components yielded two radioactive bands that were identified as glycocalyx and plasma membrane labeled with 125I. The basal-lateral components yielded a hetero-disperse pattern made up of at least 3 radioactive bands, but the bulk of the activity of ouabain-sensitive ATPase comigrated with only one of these bands. The mitochondia, identified by assays for cytochrome oxidase and NADH cytochrome c reductase activities, were separated from the radio-iodine labeled by centrifugation in sucrose density gradients under isokinetic conditions. The labeled glycocalyx and the slowly migrating components of basal-lateral labeling were separated from the radio-iodinated membranes by centrifugation at 100,000 x g x 1 hr after removal of the mitochrondria by the isokinetic method. The labeled membranes were then subjected to ultracentrifugation in sucrose density gradients under isopycnic conditions; the basal-lateral membranes containing ouabain-sensitive ATP-ase were well resolved from the apical membranes by this method. These results provide a relatively rapid method of attaining partial purification of the apical and basal-lateral plasma membranes of toad bladder epithelium.

A new model for regulation of sodium transport in high resistance epithelia

A new three barrier, four compartment model for sodium transport in high resistance urinary epithelia is presented. This model provides a unified and simplified mechanistic explanation for sodium transport and its quantitative regulation. Sodium enters the epithelial cell by passive diffusion. Active extrusion occurs across the lateral cell membrane into the lateral intercellular space (LICS). Sodium movement from the LICS into the serosal compartment is not free and unobstructed as in the models for low resistance epithelia, but rather occurs through a regulatory channel of the LICS passing through desmosomes and the basilar slit. The exact configuration of this regulatory channel controls the rate of sodium movement from the LICS into the serosal compartment. Thus, the configuration of the regulatory channel controls the afterload on the sodium pump and thus ultimately controls the rate of transepithelial sodium transport. Antidiuretic hormone could act by increasing the effective width of this regulatory channel by contraction of intracellular microtubules or microfilaments. Present theories for regulation of transepithelial sodium transport in high resistance epithelia invoke a regulatory barrier at the apical cell membrane or at the active sodium pump located in the basolateral cell membrane. The hypothetical model presented here invokes a new alternative: regulation of the active pump rate by the sodium concentration in the LICS serving as an afterload on the pump; sodium escape from the LICS into the serosal compartment thus becomes the regulatory step for transepithelial transport.

Nonsteady-state three compartment tracer kinetics. II. Sodium flux transients in the toad urinary bladder in response to short circuit

The theoretical approach presented in the previous paper provides an analytical method for determining the unidirectional, nonsteady-state fluxes in a three compartment system. Based on this a study was made of the sodium flux transients in the toad urinary bladder. A transient time-dependent state was generated by suddenly short-circuiting a bladder previously maintained in an open-circuited steady state. The sequence of experiments suggested by the theory provided the data required for the analysis. The results of these tracer experiments were consistent with the complex non-three compartmental structure of this tissue. As a result both of the inadequacy of the three compartment model in representing the tissue and of certain experimental difficulties, attempts at a quantitative solution were not entirely successful. Useful information was nevertheless obtained through a careful use of this model, and a qualitative analysis implied that the sodium influxes into the tissue at both of its surfaces are sensitive to changes in electrical potential while both effluxes are insensitive to this change. This suggests that both of the effluxes result from active processes while both influxes are associated with passive processes. The net transepithelial transport of sodium would then necessarily result from a more complex polarization than that proposed by Koefoed-Johnsen and Ussing.

Electron microscope observations on the carbohydrate-rich cell coat present at the surface of cells in the rat

Periodic acid-silver methenamine, a fairly specific technique for glycoprotein detection, was used to stain a variety of rat tissues, in the hope of confirming the existence of a carbohydrate-rich "cell coat" at the surface of mammalian cells. It was found that nearly all cells are coated by a thin layer of stained material. Around fibrocytes and migrating blood cells, the layer is uniform and merges with the ground substance. In the nervous system, cells and processes are surrounded with a layer whose density increases in synaptic clefts. Around epithelial cells, the layer outlines apical microvilli, follows lateral interspaces, and extends between cells and basement membrane. The layer is continuous with the middle plate of desmosomes and can be followed within the wide portion of terminal bars. In contrast, staining usually vanishes when two adjacent plasma membranes fuse to form tight junctions. These findings indicate that the stained layer is a "cell coat" located outside the plasma membrane. Since the cell coat is also stained by colloidal thorium, a technique for detection of acidic carbohydrates, this structure presumably contains not only glycoprotein(s) but also acidic residues. The carbohydrates may play a role in holding cells together and in controlling the interactions between cells and environment.

Adenosine triphosphatase localization in amphibian epidermis

The localization of ATPase(1) activity has been studied by light and electron microscopy in the epidermis of Rana pipiens, Rana catesbiana, and Bufo marinus. The reaction was carried out on skin (glutaraldehyde-fixed or fresh) sectioned with or without freezing. Best results were obtained with nonfrozen sections of fixed tissue. The incubation mixture was either a Wachstein-Meisel medium, or a modification which approximates assay systems used in biochemical studies of transport ATPases. The reaction product was found localized in contact with the outer leaflet of all cell membranes facing the labyrinth of intercellular spaces of the epidermis. It was absent from: (a) membrane areas involved in cell junctions (desmosomes, zonulae and maculae occludentes); (b) cell membranes facing the external medium (i.e., those on the distal aspect of the ultimate cell layer in s. corneum); (c) cell membranes facing the dermis (those on the proximal aspect of cells in s. germinativum). In the presence of (Na(+) + K(+)) the localization did not change, but the reaction was not appreciably activated. A similar though less intense reaction was obtained with ITP, but not with ADP, AMP, and GP as substrates. The results are discussed in relation to available data on transport ATPases in general, and on the morphology and physiology of amphibian skin in particular. Assuming that the ATPase studied is related to transport ATPase, the findings suggest a series of modifications to the frog skin model proposed by Koefoed-Johnsen and Ussing. The salient feature of this modified model is the localization of the Na(+) pump along all cell membranes facing the intercellular spaces of the epidermis.

Fluid transport in the rabbit gallbladder. A combined physiological and electron microscopic study

The fine structure of the rabbit gallbladder has been studied in specimens whose functional state was undetermined, which were fixed either in situ or directly after removal from the animal; in specimens whose rate of fluid absorption was determined, either in vivo or in vitro, immediately prior to fixation; and in specimens from bladders whose absorptive function was experimentally altered in vitro. Considerable variation was found in the width of the epithelial intercellular spaces in the bladders whose functional state was undefined. In bladders known to be transporting fluid, either in vivo or in vitro, the intercellular spaces were always distended, as were the subepithelial capillaries. This distension was greatest in bladders which had been functioning in vitro. When either Na(+) or Cl(-) was omitted from the bathing media, there was no fluid transport across the wall of the gallbladder studied in vitro. The epithelial intercellular spaces of biopsies taken from several bladders under these conditions were of approximately 200 A width except for minor distension at the crests of mucosal folds. The addition of the missing ion rapidly led to the reestablishment of fluid transport and the distension of the intercellular spaces throughout most of the epithelium of these bladders. Studies of sodium localization (by fixation with a pyroantimonate-OsO(4) mixture) showed high concentrations of this ion in the distended intercellular spaces. Histochemical studies of ATPase activity showed that this enzyme was localized along the lateral plasma membrane of the epithelial cells. The analogy is drawn between the structure of the gallbladder mucosa and a serial membrane model proposed by Curran to account for coupled solute-solvent transport across epithelia. It is concluded that the intercellular compartment fulfills the conditions for the middle compartment of the Curran model and that active transport of solute across the lateral plasma membrane into the intercellular space may be responsible for fluid absorption by the gall bladder.

The enteric surface coat on cat intestinal microvilli

The enteric microvilli of the cat, bat, and man are coated with a conspicuous layer composed of fine filaments radiating from the outer dense leaflet of the plasma membrane. This surface coat is prominent on the absorptive cells but is not so thick on the goblet and undifferentiated crypt cells. In other species the surface coat is poorly developed or inconsistent, but all intestinal microvilli have traces of such a coating over the tips and sides of the microvilli. Tissues prepared by the ordinary sectioning techniques for electron microscopy usually reveal this component when stained with uranyl acetate followed by lead staining. The surface coat is intensely periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) positive and reacts with Alcian blue or Hale's colloidal iron stain for acid mucopolysaccharide. It is also stained by toluidine blue at low pH. Repeated washings or incubation with various chemical agents have failed to remove or markedly alter the appearance of the coating, but extruded cells undergoing autolysis lose their surface coats. The stability, consistent presence, and intimate association of the mucopolysaccharide coat suggest that it may be an integral part of the plasmalemma rather than an "extraneous coat."

Nucleoside phosphatases of fetal and maternal blood cells: electron microscope study

Surface membranes of the blood cells located within the maternal blood sinuses of the rat placenta contain reaction products of nucleoside phosphatases. Fetal blood cells separated from maternal blood by the placental labyrinth show no activity during normal or prolonged gestation. Neonatal blood cells examined 34 hours after parturition show these enzyme activities.

The fine structure of the transitional epithelium of rat ureter

The fine structure of the transitional epithelium of rat ureter has been studied in thin sections with the electron microscope, including some stained cytochemically to show nucleoside triphosphatase activity. The epithelium is three to four cells deep with cuboidal or columnar basal cells, intermediate cells, and superficial squamous cells. The basal cells are attached by half desmosomes, or attachment plates, on their basal membranes to a basement membrane which separates the epithelium from the lamina propria. Fine extracellular fibres, ca. 100 A in diameter, are to be found in the connective tissue layer immediately below the basement membrane of this epithelium. The plasma membranes of the basal and intermediate cells and the lateral and basal membranes of the squamous cells are deeply interdigitated, and nucleoside triphosphatase activity is associated with them. All the cells have a dense feltwork of tonofilaments which ramify throughout the cytoplasm. The existence of junctional complexes, comprising a zonula occludens, zonula adhaerens, and macula adhaerens or desmosome, between the lateral borders of the squamous cells is reported. It is suggested that this complex is the major obstacle to the free flow of water from the extracellular spaces into the hypertonic urine. The free luminal surface of the squamous cells and many cytoplasmic vesicles in these cells are bounded by an unusually thick plasma membrane. The three leaflets of this unit membrane are asymmetric, with the outer one about twice as thick as the innermost one. The vesicles and the plasma membrane maintain angular conformations which suggest the membrane to be unusually rigid. No nucleoside triphosphatase activity is associated with this membrane. Arguments are presented to support a suggestion that this thick plasma membrane is the morphological site of a passive permeability barrier to water flow across the cells, and that keratin may be included in the membrane structure. The possible origin of the thick plasma membrane in the Golgi complex is discussed. Bodies with heterogeneous contents, including characteristic hexagonally packed stacks of thick membranes, are described. It is suggested that these are "disposal units" for old or surplus thick membrane. A cell type is described, which forms only 0.1 to 0.5 per cent of the total cell population and contains bundles of tubular fibres or crystallites. Their origin and function are not known.