Shortening of Branchial Tight Junction Acid-Exposed Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

1991 ◽  
Vol 48 (10) ◽  
pp. 2028-2033 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Freda ◽  
D. A. Sanchez ◽  
H. L. Bergman

The objective of this study was to investigate possible sites for Na+ loss in fish exposed to low environmental pH. In rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) exposed to pH 4.0 for 1 h, a net loss of Na+ was stimulated, and changes in gill structure occurred. In addition to epithelial lifting and necrosis in the gills of acid-exposed fish, tight junctions between pavement epithelial cells and chloride cells decreased in length by 25% whereas tight junctions between adjacent pavement cells did not significantly change. In a second experiment where fish were moved from pH 4.0 or 3.5 water to pH 6.5 water, we observed that Na+ loss declined immediately and approached control levels. The reversible nature of the stimulation of Na+ loss indicates that the site of Na+ loss in the fish gill can be reversibly opened and closed, which is consistent with the known properties of tight junctions. We hypothesize that the opening of tight junctions contributes to the loss of plasma electrolytes at low environmental pH. However, the relative magnitude of electrolyte loss through the tight junctions remains unknown.

1993 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 198-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Céline Audet ◽  
Chris M. Wood

Changes in branchial morphology and in plasma Cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline were quantified throughout an 81 -d exposure of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to sublethal acidity (pH 4.8) in artificial soft water and after a 5-h acid challenge (pH 4.0) of naive fish and 81-d acid-preexposed fish. Changes in branchial morphology at pH 4.8 were generally very mild and characterized by slight increases in filamental mucous cells and decreases in lamellar mucous cells. Chloride cell numbers and branchial Na+–K+- and total ATPase activities did not change. The filamental epithelium thickened, but the water–blood diffusion distance in the lamellae decreased during chronic exposure. Cortisol was significantly elevated throughout whereas catecholamines exhibited relatively little response. Response to acute pH 4.0 challenge was similar in naive and 81-d acid-exposed fish: epithelial damage, increase in visible mucous cells, loss of chloride cells by necrosis, and high cortisol levels but no changes in lamellar or filamental epithelial thickness, diffusion distance, ATPase activities, or catecholamine levels. Previously reported physiological data from these same trout demonstrated that sensitization rather than acclimation had occurred. Therefore, these observations support the view that acclimation does not occur in the absence of significant branchial damage and repair.


1993 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 988-995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nils Petter Berg Justesen ◽  
Torbjørn Dall-Larsen ◽  
Leiv Klungsøyr

Particulate preparations from freshwater rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) gill homogenates contain an active magnesium ion activated ATPase that transports protons into the vesicles. Oligomycin at a concentration of 20 μg∙mL−1 had little effect on the proton transport, which was completely inhibited by N-ethylmaleimide. This inhibition was partly counteracted by dithiothreitol. Proton transport in freshwater trout gill submitochondrial particles was completely inhibited by oligomycin. When freshwater trout were kept for 40 min in water equilibrated with air containing 5% carbon dioxide, their gill lamellar epithelium contained many cells densely covered with erect microvilli. After changing to water bubbled with room air, the cells rapidly lost their microvilli. Control fish that were killed immediately after removal from the storage tank also had microvilli, but less erect and fewer in number. Labelled latex microspheres and dextran were used as markers for external medium uptake into gill epithelial cells. The fish were pretreated by bubbling the water by air containing 5% carbon dioxide, and the uptake took place when the water was bubbled with room air.


1993 ◽  
Vol 50 (12) ◽  
pp. 2532-2541 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. H. M. Balm ◽  
T. G. Pottinger

Two strains of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were exposed to soft water at pH 4.0 for 14 days, after ambient pH was reduced gradually. Several parameters, either indicators of acid stress, or reportedly involved in the adaptive response to low pH, were monitored. No mortality occurred during the exposure period; feeding behavior, haematocrit, and plasma protein levels were not affected. A transient depression of leucocrit was observed. A minor, but significant, hypochloremia and perturbations in plasma glucose levels occurred in acid-exposed fish from one strain only. There was no evidence of activation of the pituitary-interrenal axis in acid-exposed fish. Baseline plasma ACTH and Cortisol levels were indistinguishable from those of control fish, and there was no evidence of sensitization to additional stress in acid-exposed fish, in vitro baseline and ACTH-stimulated Cortisol secretion was not significantly different in the two groups. Ultrastructural evidence indicated an increased turnover rate of chloride cells and leucocyte infiltration in gills of acid-exposed fish. These results suggest that interrenal activation and catastrophic ion loss are not inevitable consequences of exposure of rainbow trout to pH 4.0 and that ultrastructural changes in the gills indicate locally regulated adaptive mechanisms.


2001 ◽  
Vol 204 (10) ◽  
pp. 1783-1794 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.J. O'Donnell ◽  
S.P. Kelly ◽  
C.A. Nurse ◽  
C.M. Wood

Primary cultures of pavement cells from the gills of a freshwater fish, the rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, have been studied for the first time using the patch-clamp technique. Gigaohm seals were obtained in approximately 95 % of cells studied, and channel activity was evident in a high proportion (>90 %). A large-conductance Cl(−) channel was evident in 6 % of cell-attached and in 31 % of inside-out patches. Single-channel conductance in inside-out patches was 372 pS, and current/voltage relationships were linear over the range −60 to +60 mV. The channel was activated by patch excision, and activation was often associated with polarization of the patch. The mean number of channels per patch was 1.9, and there were several subconductance states. The relationship between channel activity (NP(o)) and voltage was in the form of an inverted U, and channel activity was highest between 0 and +20 mV. Large-conductance Cl(−) channels showed a progressive time-dependent reduction in current in response to sustained polarization to voltages outside the range −20 mV to +20 mV. Permeability ratios (P) of Cl(−) to other anions were P(HCO3)/P(Cl)=0.81, P(SO4)/P(Cl)=0.31 and P(isethionate)/P(Cl)=0.53. The channel was blocked by Zn(2+), SITS, DIDS and diphenylamine carboxylate. This is the first description of a large-conductance Cl(−) channel in gill cells from freshwater or marine species. Possible functions of the channel are discussed.


1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 154-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark D. Powell ◽  
David J. Speare ◽  
Glenda M. Wright

Chloramine-T is a widely used prophylactic and therapeutic agent in freshwater aquaculture. This study examined the effects of repeated intermittent exposure of healthy rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fingerlings to sublethal concentrations of chloramine-T (0, 5, 10, or 20 mg/L) twice weekly in 1-h pulses at 11 °C for 4 weeks in a replicate-tank facility. Gills were excised from subsamples of fish prior to exposure and at the end of the 4-week experimental period. Tissue was fixed and processed for light microscopy and transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The gill epithelium from fish treated with 10 and 20 mg/L chloramine-T appeared swollen and vacuolated, with extensive intercellular edema. There was a significant reduction in the number of lamellar mucous cells and an apparent increase in the numbers of chloride cells. Chloride cells from both the base of the lamella and the lamellar surface of gills exposed to chloramine-T had a significant increase in the area of the apical plasmalemma after treatment with 10 and 20 mg/L, and a reduction in the thickness of the apical plasmalemma-associated glycocalyx. These morphological changes are consistent with a compensatory mechanism for the remedial uptake of ions, suggesting that chloramine-T increased epithelial ion permeability coincident with a possible influx of water leading to intercellular edema. Chloride cell proliferation and intercellular edema may also have affected gas exchange across the branchial epithelium.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document