scholarly journals THE EFFECT OF CERTAIN ELECTROLYTES AND NON-ELECTROLYTES ON PERMEABILITY OF LIVING CELLS TO WATER

1928 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morton McCutcheon ◽  
Balduin Lucke
Keyword(s):  
Osmotic Pressure ◽  
Sea Urchin ◽  
Quantitative Study ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Arbacia Punctulata ◽  
Dextrose Solution

1. Permeability to water in unfertilized eggs of the sea urchin, Arbacia punctulata, is found to be greater in hypotonic solutions of dextrose, saccharose and glycocoll than in sea water of the same osmotic pressure. 2. The addition to dextrose solution of small amounts of CaCl2 or MgCl2 restores the permeability approximately to the value obtained in sea water. 3. This effect of CaCl2 and MgCl2 is antagonized by the further addition of NaCl or KCl. 4. It is concluded that the NaCl and KCl tend to increase the permeability of the cell to water, CaCl2 and MgCl2 to decrease it. 5. The method here employed can be used for quantitative study of salt antagonism.

scholarly journals THE EFFECT OF VALENCE OF IONS ON CELLULAR PERMEABILITY TO WATER

1929 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 571-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Balduin Lucké ◽  
Morton McCutcheon
Keyword(s):  
Sea Urchin ◽  
Quantitative Study ◽  
Negative Ions ◽  
Potassium Salts ◽  
Low Concentration ◽  
Arbacia Punctulata ◽  
Dextrose Solution ◽  
Positive Ions ◽  
Cellular Permeability

1. Permeability to water in unfertilized eggs of the sea urchin, Arbacia punctulata, was studied by measuring the rate of swelling in hypotonic dextrose solution. 2. Permeability is greatly affected by addition of electrolytes in low concentration. 3. A decrease in permeability to water was found with increasing valence of the cation, using a series of cobaltammine chlorides in which the valence of the cation ranged from 1 to 6. 4. Conversely, an increase in permeability to water was found with increasing valence of the anion, using two series of potassium salts in which the valence of the anion ranged from 1 to 4, and 1 to 3, respectively. 5. It is concluded that the effect of electrolytes on permeability to water depends chiefly on the sign and the number of charges on the ion, in the sense that positive ions decrease permeability to water, while negative ions increase permeability to water; and the effectiveness of the ion is greater the higher its valence. 6. Antagonism has been demonstrated between cations and anions in their effect on permeability, and the method employed permits quantitative study of such antagonism.

scholarly journals THE OSMOTIC PROPERTIES OF LIVING CELLS (EGGS OF ARBACIA PUNCTULATA)

1931 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morton McCutcheon ◽  
Balduin Lucké ◽  
H. Keffer Hartline
Keyword(s):  
Surface Tension ◽  
Osmotic Pressure ◽  
Cell Volume ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Arbacia Punctulata ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Inactive Cell ◽  
Osmotic Properties

We have attempted to answer the question: How nearly ideal, as an osmometer, is the unfertilized Arbacia egg? The following conclusion have been reached: 1. Volumes can be measured accurately over a wide range of pressures since the cell is in general spherical and does not suffer deformation from its own weight or other factors. 2. The product of volume and pressure is approximately constant, if allowance be made for osmotically inactive cell contents. It is computed that from 7 to 14 per cent of cell volume is occupied by osmotically inactive material. 3. Evidence is presented that no appreciable escape of cell contents occurs while the cell is in hypotonic sea water; that, therefore, the semipermeability of the membrane is approximately perfect, so long as injury to the cell is avoided. 4. In comparison with osmotic pressure the influence of other forces, such as elasticity or surface tension, on cell volume must in these experiments be slight.

scholarly journals THE EXTRACELLULAR RELEASE OF ECHINOCHROME

1946 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 267-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert Shapiro
Keyword(s):  
Sea Urchin ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Potassium Content ◽  
Red Pigment ◽  
Anaerobic Conditions ◽  
Outward Diffusion ◽  
Arbacia Punctulata ◽  
Extracellular Release

A study was made of the diffusion of the red pigment echinochrome from the eggs of the sea urchin, Arbacia punctulata, into sea water. Unfertilized eggs retained their pigment, over periods of hours. Outward diffusion of pigment from unfertilized eggs normally is entirely negligible, or does not occur at all. Enchancing the calcium or potassium content of the artificial sea water (while retaining isosmotic conditions) did not induce pigment release. Under anaerobic conditions, unfertilized eggs release pigment in small quantities. Fertilization alone brings about echinochrome release. Fertilized eggs invariably released pigment, whether in normal sea water, or sea water with increased calcium or potassium. This diffusion of the pigment began during the first cleavage, possibly soon after fertilization. The pigment release is not a consequence solely of the cell's permeability to echinochrome (or chromoprotein, or other pigment combination) but is preceded by events leading to a release of echinochrome from the granules in which it is concentrated within the cell. These events may be initiated by activation or by anaerobiosis. The phenomenon was not due to cytolysis.

scholarly journals V. Skeletal development in Arbacia , Echinarachnius and Leptasterias

1929 ◽  
Vol 217 (440-449) ◽  
pp. 289-334 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Urchin ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Skeletal Development ◽  
Mediterranean Species ◽  
Marine Biological Laboratory ◽  
Glass Vessel ◽  
Arbacia Punctulata ◽  
Marine Biological ◽  
Points Of Interest ◽  
Arbacia Lixula

The echinopluteus of the genus Arbacia has been known since 1853. Echinoplutei of the species at present under investigation were first reared in 1880 by Fewkes, and two years later Garman and Colton (1882) succeeded in rearing them through the metamorphosis. The Mediterranean species Arbacia lixula , L. (syn. A . pustulosa , Gray) has also been reared through metamorphosis, and Übisch (1913) was the first to attempt an analysis of the test of the imago. The composition of the corona in the imago of A . pustulosa , as described in the paper just referred to (Übisch, 1913), is very different from that in the imago of e. g . Echinus or Strongylocentrotus . The opportunity of working at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, presenting itself, it was thought that a study of the development of the test in Arbacia punctulata , Gray, might reveal some points of interest. Accordingly, cultures of this common sea-urchin were started on July 28, 1926, and the echinoplutei were fed on the diatom Nitzschia closterium W. Sm. forma minutissima . Forty days later (September 6th) the first imago was obtained and the echinoplutei continued to metamorphose throughout the rest of September. Early in August a shallow glass vessel containing filtered sea-water was infected with plankton obtained by towing, and, by the first week of September, the bottom and sides of the vessel were well coated with diatoms. Many of the imagines, which measure 0·5 mm. in diameter including the spines, were transferred to this vessel and a number increased considerably in size. The largest specimen obtained in this way was 1·63 mm. in diameter inclusive of the spines; the diameter of the test alone was 0·9 mm.

scholarly journals FURTHER STUDIES ON THE KINETICS OF OSMOSIS IN LIVING CELLS

1931 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Balduin Lucké ◽  
H. Keffer Hartline ◽  
Morton McCutcheon
Keyword(s):  
Cell Surface ◽  
Osmotic Pressure ◽  
Volume Change ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Arbacia Punctulata ◽  
Kinetics Of ◽  
And Diffusion ◽  
Swelling And Shrinking

Using unfertilized eggs of Arbacia punctulata as natural osmometers an attempt has been made to account for the course of swelling and shrinking of these cells in anisotonic solutions by means of the laws governing osmosis and diffusion. The method employed has been to compute permeability of the cell to water, as measured by the rate of volume change per unit of cell surface per unit of osmotic pressure outstanding between the cell and its medium. Permeability to water as here defined and as somewhat differently defined by Northrop is approximately constant during swelling and shrinking, at least for the first several minutes of these processes. Permeability is found to be independent of the osmotic pressure of the solution in which cells are swelling. Water is found to leave cells more readily than it enters, that is, permeability is greater during exosmosis than during endosmosis.

scholarly journals THE EFFECT OF SALT CONCENTRATION OF THE MEDIUM ON THE RATE OF OSMOSIS OF WATER THROUGH THE MEMBRANE OF LIVING CELLS

1927 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 665-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baldwin Lucke ◽  
Morton McCutcheon
Keyword(s):  
Cell Membrane ◽  
Diffusion Process ◽  
Osmotic Pressure ◽  
Salt Concentration ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Water Medium ◽  
Distilled Water ◽  
Velocity Constant ◽  
Sigmoid Curve

1. Using the unfertilized egg of the sea urchin, Arbacia, as osmometer, it was found that the rate with which water enters or leaves the cell depends on the osmotic pressure of the medium: the velocity constant of the diffusion process is higher when the cell is in concentrated sea water, and lower when the sea water medium is diluted with distilled water. Differences of more than tenfold in the value of the velocity constant were obtained in this way. When velocity constants are plotted against concentration of medium, a sigmoid curve is obtained. 2. These results are believed to indicate that cells are more permeable to water when the osmotic pressure of the medium is high than when it is low. This relation would be accounted for if water should diffuse through pores in a partially hydrated gel, constituting the cell membrane. In a medium of high osmotic pressure, the gel is conceived to give up water, to shrink, and therefore to allow widening of its pores with more ready diffusion of water through them. Conversely, in solutions of lower osmotic pressure, the gel would take up water and its pores become narrow.

scholarly journals THE CHANGE IN OSMOTICALLY INACTIVE FRACTION PRODUCED BY CELL ACTIVATION

1948 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert Shapiro
Keyword(s):  
Cell Volume ◽  
Sea Urchin ◽  
Cell Activation ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Total Cell ◽  
Respiratory Metabolism ◽  
Arbacia Punctulata ◽  
Mechanical Analogue ◽  
Total Cell Volume ◽  
Cell Volumes

1. Resting and activated eggs of the sea urchin Arbacia punctulata were swollen in hypotonic sea water (60, 70, 80, and 90 per cent), and allowed to attain equilibrium volumes (Figs. 1 and 2). 2. Both fertilized and unfertilized eggs obey the Boyle-van't-Hoff law, but the value for b, the "osmotically inactive fraction" or non-swellable volume, was different for the two, averaging in the cases studied 7.3 per cent for unfertilized and 27.4 per cent for fertilized. 3. On activation, the eggs of the sea urchin undergo a definite increase in total cell volume, of approximately 2.7 per cent. 4. Some evidence is adduced for the possibility that the alteration in cell volume and in o.i.f. may depend upon the species in question. 5. A parallelism between change in b and alteration of respiratory metabolism in Arbacia, Chaetopterus, and Arbacia fragments is pointed out. This requires further investigation in other species to establish generality. 6. Equations for the calculation of the point at which osmotic pressures and cell volumes are identical for unfertilized and fertilized eggs are included. 7. A mechanical analogue of the phenomena is introduced (Fig. 3).

scholarly journals MORPHOLOGY OF GAMETE MEMBRANE FUSION AND OF SPERM ENTRY INTO OOCYTES OF THE SEA URCHIN

1965 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luther E. Franklin
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Sea Urchin ◽  
Acrosome Reaction ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Sea Urchins ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Lytechinus Variegatus ◽  
Arbacia Punctulata ◽  
Sperm Entry ◽  
Ultrathin Sections

Sea urchin gametes predominate in molecular studies of fertilization, yet relatively little is known of the subcellular aspects of sperm entry in this group. Accordingly, it seemed desirable to make a detailed examination of sperm entry phenomena in sea urchins with the electron microscope. Gametes of the sea urchins Arbacia punctulata and Lytechinus variegatus were used in this study. Samples of eggs containing 2 to 8 per cent oocytes were selected and fixed with osmium tetroxide in sea water at various intervals after insemination. Fixed specimens were embedded in Epon 812, sectioned, and examined with an electron microscope. An apical vesicle was observed at the anterior end of the acrosome. The presence of this structure, together with other observations, suggested that initiation of the acrosome reaction in sea urchin sperm involves dehiscence of the acrosomal region with the subsequent release of the acrosomal granule. Contact and initial fusion of gamete membranes was observed in mature eggs and oocytes and invariably involved the extended acrosomal tubule of the spermatozoon. Only one spermatozoon normally enters the mature egg. The probability of locating such a sperm in ultrathin sections is exceedingly low. Several sperm do normally enter oocytes. Consequently, observations of sperm entry were primarily restricted to the latter. The manner of sperm entry into oocytes did not resemble phagocytosis. Organelles of the spermatozoon were progressively divested of their plasma membrane as they entered the ground cytoplasm of the oocyte fertilization cone. Initiation of the acrosome reaction, contact and initial fusion of gamete membranes, and sperm entry into oocytes of sea urchins conform to the Hydroides-Saccoglossus pattern of early fertilization events as described by Colwin and Colwin (13).

scholarly journals THE KINETICS OF EXOSMOSIS OF WATER FROM LIVING CELLS

1927 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 659-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morton McCutcheon ◽  
Baldwin Lucke
Keyword(s):  
Osmotic Pressure ◽  
Salt Concentration ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Temperature Characteristic ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Velocity Constant ◽  
Osmotic Equilibrium ◽  
Kinetics Of

1. The rate of exosmosis of water was studied in unfertilized Arbacia eggs, in order to bring out possible differences between the kinetics of exosmosis and endosmosis. 2. Exosmosis, like endosmosis, is found to follow the equation See PDF for Equation, in which a is the total volume of water that will leave the cell before osmotic equilibrium is attained, x is the volume that has already left the cell at time t, and k is the velocity constant. 3. The velocity constants of the two processes are equal, provided the salt concentration of the medium is the same. 4. The temperature characteristic of exosmosis, as of endomosis, is high. 5. It is concluded that the kinetics of exosmosis and endosmosis of water in these cells are identical, the only difference in the processes being in the direction of the driving force of osmotic pressure.

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