scholarly journals ELECTRON MICROSCOPY OF ABSORPTION OF TRACER MATERIALS BY TOAD URINARY BLADDER EPITHELIUM

1965 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae Kwon Choi

The absorption of Thorotrast and saccharated iron oxide by the epithelium of the toad urinary bladder was studied by electron microscopy. Whether the toads were hydrated, dehydrated, or given Pitressin, no significant differences in transport of colloidal particles by epithelial cells were observed. This implies that these physiological factors had little effect on the transport of the tracer particles. Tracer particles were encountered in three types of epithelial cells which line the bladder lumen, but most frequently in the mitochondria-rich cells. Tracer materials were incorporated into the cytoplasm of epithelial cells after being adsorbed to the coating layer covering the luminal surface of the cells. In the intermediate stage (1 to 3 hours after introducing tracer) particles were present in small vesicles, tubules, and multivesicular bodies. In the later stages (up to 65 hours), the particles were more commonly seen to be densely packed within large membrane-bounded bodies which were often found near the Golgi region. These large bodies probably were formed by the fusion of small vesicles. Irrespective of the stages of absorption, no particles were found in the intercellular spaces or in the submucosa. Particles apparently did not penetrate the intercellular spaces of the epithelium beyond the level of the tight junction.

1986 ◽  
Vol 251 (2) ◽  
pp. C274-C284 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. W. Harris ◽  
J. B. Wade ◽  
J. S. Handler

Antidiuretic hormone (ADH) stimulation of toad urinary bladder causes fusion of intracellular vesicles called aggrephores with the apical plasma membrane of granular cells. Aggrephores contain intramembrane particle aggregates whose appearance in the apical membrane is believed to produce a large increase in its water permeability. ADH removal (ADH washout) is thought to cause the retrieval of aggrephores into granular cell cytoplasm. We studied granular cell uptake of dextran and horseradish peroxidase conjugated with fluorescein, rhodamine, or both during ADH washout. Granular cell uptake of fluorescent dextran was dependent on prior exposure to ADH, a linear function of dextran concentration, and increased by a transepithelial osmotic gradient. Immediately after removal of ADH, granular cell fluorescence was finely dispersed and located near the apical surface. Subsequently, it coalesced into larger bodies. This change was most apparent when a single bladder was subjected to two cycles of ADH stimulation and removal using a dextran containing a different fluorophore for each cycle. The ultrastructural correlate for these fluorescent patterns was identified using rhodamine-labeled horseradish peroxidase. Electron microscopy showed that after detachment from the apical membrane, label was initially in tubular-shaped vesicles near the apical surface. Later, these vesicles clustered near multivesicular bodies and transferred their label to these structures. These tubular vesicles closely resemble the morphology of aggrephores visualized by freeze-fracture electron microscopy. We conclude that these fluorescent compounds can be used as markers for the luminal contents of membrane retrieved during ADH washout and allow detailed study of its intracellular processing.


1975 ◽  
Vol 228 (3) ◽  
pp. 954-958 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Urakabe ◽  
JS Handler ◽  
J Orloff

Cyclic AMP accumulates in the Ringer solution bathing the toad urinary bladder in vitro. At least 4 times more cyclic AMP is released into the solution bathing the serosal surface than into the solution bathing the mucosal surface. Most of the cyclic AMP originates in the epithelial cells rather than the stroma. Vasopressin increased the content of cyclic AMP in the epithelial cells and increases the amount of cyclic AMP in the Ringer solution. Since there is not an increase in medium cyclic AMP when cell cyclic AMP levels are increased by theophylline, it is suggested that theophylline may reduce the permeability of the cell membrane to cyclic AMP. Finally, it is demonstrated that 10 mM NaF increase the amount of cyclic AMP in the epithelial cells and in the solution bathing the bladder, but block the effect of vasopressin on water permeability, presumably at a step subsequent to the formation of cyclic AMP.


1980 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Narvarte ◽  
A L Finn

Membrane potentials and the electrical resistance of the cell membranes and the shunt pathway of toad urinary bladder epithelium were measured using microelectrode techniques. These measurements were used to compute the equivalent electromotive forces (EMF) at both cell borders before and after reductions in mucosal Cl- concentration ([Cl]m). The effects of reduction in [Cl]m depended on the anionic substitute. Gluconate or sulfate substitutions increased transepithelial resistance, depolarized membrane potentials and EMF at both cell borders, and decreased cell conductance. Iodide substitutions had opposite effects. Gluconate or sulfate substitutions decreased apical Na conductance, where iodide replacements increased it. When gluconate or sulfate substitutions were brought about the presence of amiloride in the mucosal solution, apical membrane potential and EMF hyperpolarized with no significant changes in basolateral membrane potential or EMF. It is concluded that: (a) apical Na conductance depends, in part, on the anionic composition of the mucosal solution, (b) there is a Cl- conductance in the apical membrane, and (c) the electrical communication between apical and basolateral membranes previously described is mediated by changes in the size of the cell Na pool, most likely by a change in sodium activity.


1965 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Gedeon Matoltsy ◽  
Paul F. Parakkal

The purpose of this study has been to obtain information on the development of the envelop of horny cells that resists the action of keratinolytic agents. Toward this end the epidermis, oral mucosa, and tongue epithelium of various vertebrates, as well as the isolated envelopes of horny cells, were examined by electron microscopy. It was found that small cytoplasmic granules (1,000 to 5,000 A) that develop within differentiating epithelial cells move toward the cell periphery, and after fusion with the plasma membrane, empty their contents into the intercellular spaces. The content of the granules spreads over the cell surfaces, and subsequently a thickened and coated cell envelope is formed that resists the action of keratinolytic agent. The membrane-coating granule is regarded as a specific differentiation product of the keratinizing epithelium. It contains numerous inner membranes and is assumed to engage in synthetic activities such as, perhaps, the formation of polysaccharides.


1989 ◽  
Vol 66 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 107-113
Author(s):  
Véronique Ripoche ◽  
Renaud Beauwens ◽  
Michèle Bouisset ◽  
Alain Amar-Costesec ◽  
Henri Beaufay

1970 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald R. DiBona ◽  
Mortimer M. Civan

Phase microscopy of toad urinary bladder has demonstrated that vasopressin can cause an enlargement of the epithelial intercellular spaces under conditions of no net transfer of water or sodium. The suggestion that this phenomenon is linked to the hormone's action as a smooth muscle relaxant has been tested and verified with the use of other agents effecting smooth muscle: atropine and adenine compounds (relaxants), K+ and acetylcholine (contractants). Furthermore, it was possible to reduce the size and number of intercellular spaces, relative to a control, while increasing the rate of osmotic water flow. A method for quantifying these results has been developed and shows that they are, indeed, significant. It is concluded, therefore, that the configuration of intercellular spaces is not a reliable index of water flow across this epithelium and that such a morphologic-physiologic relationship is tenuous in any epithelium supported by a submucosa rich in smooth muscle.


Science ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 165 (3892) ◽  
pp. 503-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. R. Dibona ◽  
M. M. Civan

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