The Chloride Cell

2015 ◽  
pp. 83-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Kevin Foskett
Keyword(s):  
Chloride Cell

scholarly journals The surface epithelium of teleostean fish gills. Cellular and junctional adaptations of the chloride cell in relation to salt adaptation.

1979 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Sardet ◽  
M Pisam ◽  
J Maetz
Keyword(s):  
Salt Water ◽  
Freeze Fracture ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Chloride Cell ◽  
Chloride Cells ◽  
Surface Epithelium ◽  
Salt Adaptation ◽  
Resistance Pathway ◽  
Shallow Junctions ◽  
Respiratory Cells

Various species of teleostean fishes were adapted to fresh or salt water and their gill surface epithelium was examined using several techniques of electron microscopy. In both fresh and salt water the branchial epithelium is mostly covered by flat respiratory cells. They are characterized by unusual outer membrane fracture faces containing intramembranous particles and pits in various stages of ordered aggregation. Freeze fracture studies showed that the tight junctions between respiratory cells are made of several interconnecting strands, probably representing high resistance junctions. The organization of intramembranous elements and the morphological characteristics of the junctions do not vary in relation to the external salinity. Towards the base of the secondary gill lamellae, the layer of respiratory cells is interrupted by mitochondria-rich cells ("chloride cells"), also linked to respiratory cells by multistranded junctions. There is a fundamental reorganization of the chloride cells associated with salt water adaptation. In salt water young adjacent chloride cells send interdigitations into preexisting chloride cells. The apex of the seawater chloride cell is therefore part of a mosaic of sister cells linked to surrounding respiratory cells by multistranded junctions. The chloride cells are linked to each other by shallow junctions made of only one strand and permeable to lanthanum. It is therefore suggested that salt water adaptation triggers a cellular reorganization of the epithelium in such a way that leaky junctions (a low resistance pathway) appear at the apex of the chloride cells. Chloride cells are characterized by an extensive tubular reticulum which is an extension of the basolateral plasma membrane. It is made of repeating units and is the site of numerous ion pumps. The presence of shallow junctions in sea water-adapted fish makes it possible for the reticulum to contact the external milieu. In contrast in the freshwater-adapted fish the chloride cell's tubular reticulum is separated by deep apical junctions from the external environment. Based on these observations we discuss how solutes could transfer across the epithelium.

scholarly journals Adaptational Responses of Rainbow Trout to Lowered External Nacl Concentration: Contribution of the Branchial Chloride Cell

1989 ◽  
Vol 147 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEVE F. PERRY ◽  
PIERRE LAURENT
Keyword(s):  
Rainbow Trout ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
Fresh Water ◽  
Primary Response ◽  
Chloride Cell ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Salmo Gairdneri ◽  
Apical Surface ◽  
Ionic Fluxes ◽  
Area 5

1. Whole-body ionic fluxes and gill chloride cell (CC) morphology were monitored in rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) exposed acutely or chronically to natural fresh water (NFW; [Na+]=0.120 mmoll−1; [Cr]=0.164 mmoll−1) or artificially prepared fresh water with reduced [NaCl] (AFW; [Na+]=0.017 mmoll−1; [CT]=0.014 mmoll−1). 2. Net fluxes of Na+ (JnetNa) and Cl− (JnetCl) became extremely negative (indicating net NaCl loss to the environment) upon immediate exposure to AFW exclusively as a result of reduced NaCl influx (JinNa and JinNa). JnetNa and JnetCl were gradually restored to control rates during prolonged (30 days) exposure to AFW. 3. The restoration of JnetCl in AFW was due both to increased JinCl and to reduced Cl− efflux (JoutCl) whereas the primary response contributing to the restoration of JnetNa a t was an increase of JNain. 4. The total apical surface area of branchial CCs exposed to the external environment increased markedly after 24 h in AFW and remained elevated for 1 month as a consequence of enlargement of individual CCs and, to a lesser extent, increased CC density. JinNa and JinNa were correlated significantly with total CC apical surface area. 5. Plasma cortisol levels rose transiently in fish exposed to AFW. Treatment of NFW-adapted fish with cortisol for 10 days (a protocol known to cause CC proliferation) caused pronounced increases in JinCl and JinNa, as measured in both NFW and AFW. 6. These results suggest that an important adaptational response of rainbow trout to low environmental [NaCl] is cortisol-mediated enlargement of branchial epithelial CCs which, in turn, enhances the NaCl-transporting capacity of the gill as a result of the proliferation of Na+ and Cl− transport sites.

scholarly journals Shift of Chloride Cell Distribution during Early Life Stages in Seawater-Adapted Killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus

2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fumi Katoh ◽  
Akio Shimizu ◽  
Katsuhisa Uchida ◽  
Toyoji Kaneko
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Fundulus Heteroclitus ◽  
Chloride Cell ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
Cell Distribution ◽  
Early Life Stages
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