Effects of short-term salinity exposure on haemolymph osmolality, gill morphology and Na+/K+ - ATPase activity in Solenaia oleivora

In order to explore the physiological reaction to hyperosmotic environment, Solenaia oleivora were exposed to 2.23‰ salinity. In 48h, the hemolymph osmolality kept increasing, and the hemolymph protein concentration increased in the first 6h and then decreased significantly, while the free amino acid content increased in the first 24h and then kept stable (P < 0.05). The activity of Na+/K+-ATPase at 0h was significantly higher than other times in most organs except intestine, which was highest at 3h (P < 0.05). The ions concentration were also influenced. The concentration of Na+ rose in haemolymph, axe foot and intestine, but decreased in gill and hepatopancreas. In hemolymph, gill, hepatopancreases and adductor muscle, the K+ concentration was the highest at 0h, while in axe foot and intestine, it showed a positive tendency. The concentration of Cl- in haemolymph, adductor muscle, intestine and axe foot were positively correlated with treatment time, while hepatopancreas showed opposite tendency. High salinity stress caused a difference in the gill histological structure, the gill structure shrunk, the gill lamellas space and shrinking degree showed an enlarging trend with salinity treatment time.

TonEBP regulates the hyperosmotic expression of aquaporin 1 and 5 in the intervertebral disc

The central region of the intervertebral disc (IVD) is rich in proteoglycans, leading to a hyperosmotic environment, which fluctuates with daily loading. The cells of the nucleus pulposus (NP cells) have adapted to this environment via the function of tonicity enhancer binding protein (TonEBP), and NP cells have been shown to express several water channels known as aquaporins (AQP). We have previously shown that AQP1 and 5 decrease during IVD degeneration. Here, the regulation of AQP1 and 5 by hyperosmotic conditions and the role of TonEBP in this regulation was investigated. AQP1 and 5 gene expression was upregulated by hyperosmotic conditions mimicking the osmolality of the healthy IVD, which was abrogated by TonEBP knockdown. Furthermore, AQP1 and 5 immunopositivity was significantly reduced in TonEBPΔ/Δ E17.5 mice when compared with wildtype controls, indicating in vivo expression of AQP1 and 5 is controlled at least in part by TonEBP. This hyperosmotic regulation of AQP1 and 5 could help to explain the decreased AQP1 and 5 expression during degeneration, when the osmolality of the NP decreases. Together this data suggests that TonEBP-regulated osmo-adaptation may be disrupted during IVD degeneration when the expression of both AQPs is reduced.

Inflammatory macrophages in the kidney contribute to salt-sensitive hypertension

This review will highlight recent studies that have investigated the relationship between Na+, renal macrophage polarization, and renal damage. A hyperosmotic environment drives the macrophage toward a proinflammatory phenotype and away from an anti-inflammatory phenotype. Animal models of salt-sensitive hypertension demonstrate a characteristic infiltration of macrophages into the kidney that is greatly reduced when blood pressure is lowered. Because general immunosuppression or macrophage depletion leads to a host of adverse side effects, more recent studies have modulated the interaction of specific signaling molecules, including NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3, chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 16, and VEGF, to prevent the end-organ renal damage that accumulates in salt-sensitive disease.

Reaction of osmoregulatory system of sterlet Acipenser ruthenus Linnaeus, 1758 (Acipenseridae) on influence of hyperosmotic medium

Some features of response to hyperosmotic environment (artificial sea water with a salinity of 12.5–12.7 ‰ (403–409 mosm/l) were studied in the osmoregulatory system of freshwater sturgeon species from the Volga river, starlet Acipenser ruthenus Linnaeus, 1758. Morphofunctional changes were traced in certain elements of the organ complex responsible for the osmoregulatory process. 72 hours after the immature sterlet individuals (age 2+) were transferred from fresh water to the hyperosmotic medium, blood serum osmolarity becomes iso-osmotic respective to the external environment. The interrenal gland responds to saline exposure by increasing cortisol concentration in the blood serum. A high cortisol level (75.13 ± 12.96 vs. 19.29 ± 6.36 ng/ml in the control group) persists throughout the entire experimental period (7 days), which indicates that fishes are under stress. The cortisol excretion into the bloodstream is not followed by an increased activity of the transport enzyme, Na+/K+ ATPase, in homogenate of the gills and an increased Na+ concentration in chloride cells, was identified by A-gold technique. The ultrastructure of chloride cells, being the main site for the removal and sorption of monovalent ions (Na+, K+, Cl-) in fishes, does not display the characteristic of an active excretion in sterlet. Thus, cortisol does not provide a stimulating effect on increasing Na+/K+ ATPase activity, an enzyme needed to transport excess ions from the body. The thyroid gland responds by increasing the thyroxin (T4) concentration during 3–6 hours of saline exposure. In the next 114 hours, the concentration of this hormone decreases to its initial level (in the control group). The thyroxin dynamics in serum does not correlate with the dynamics of serum osmolarity. So it seems possible to conclude that no functional relationship exists between the effector “organ” (the set of numerous chloride cells of the gills epithelium) and the endocrine glands (interrenal and thyroid) controlled by the hormones of tropic pituitary cells. In sterlet dwelling in hyperosmotic medium the kidney keeps a higher Na+/K+ ATPase activity, as compared with the gills. High Na+ concentration in the urine (163.2 ± 5.3 meq/l), close to its concentration in the hyperosmotic environment, high Na+ proportion (87.1 ± 0.1%) in the total concentration of major urinary cations, low level of water sorption (50.8 ± 4.0%) in the renal tubules, high diuresis (0.58 ± 0.09, ml/hr/100 g body weight) determine high level of Na+ excretion in the urine (100.95 ± 13.21 meq/ml/hr /100 g body weight). The important role of the kidney in removing Na+ excess under hyperosmotic environment underlies the osmoconformity strategy in sterlet.

Melanin Biosynthesis in the Maize Pathogen Cochliobolus heterostrophus Depends on Two Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases, Chk1 and Mps1, and the Transcription Factor Cmr1

ABSTRACT The maize pathogen Cochliobolus heterostrophus requires two mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), Chk1 and Mps1, to produce normal pigmentation. Young colonies of mps1 and chk1 deletion mutants have a white and autolytic appearance, which was partially rescued by a hyperosmotic environment. We isolated the transcription factor Cmr1, an ortholog of Colletotrichum lagenarium Cmr1 and Magnaporthe grisea Pig1, which regulates melanin biosynthesis in C. heterostrophus. Deletion of CMR1 in C. heterostrophus resulted in mutants that lacked dark pigmentation and acquired an orange-pink color. In cmr1 deletion strains the expression of putative scytalone dehydratase (SCD1) and hydroxynaphthalene reductase (BRN1 and BRN2) genes involved in melanin biosynthesis was undetectable, whereas expression of PKS18, encoding a polyketide synthase, was only moderately reduced. In chk1 and mps1 mutants expression of PKS18, SCD1, BRN1, BRN2, and the transcription factor CMR1 itself was very low in young colonies, slightly up-regulated in aging colonies, and significantly induced in hyperosmotic conditions, compared to invariably high expression in the wild type. These findings indicate that two MAPKs, Chk1 and Mps1, affect Cmr1 at the transcriptional level and this influence is partially overridden in stress conditions including aging culture and hyperosmotic environment. Surprisingly, we found that the CMR1 gene was transcribed in both sense and antisense directions, apparently producing mRNA as well as a long noncoding RNA transcript. Expression of the antisense CMR1 was also Chk1 and Mps1 dependent. Analysis of chromosomal location of the melanin biosynthesis genes in C. heterostrophus resulted in identification of a small gene cluster comprising BRN1, CMR1, and PKS18. Since expression of all three genes depends on Chk1 and Mps1 MAPKs, we suggest their possible epigenetic regulation.

Evidence that two tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) prolactins have different osmoregulatory functions during adaptation to a hyperosmotic environment

ABSTRACT Two forms of prolactin (tiPRLI and tiPRLII), with only 69% sequence identity, have been previously described in the cichlid fish tilapia (Oreochromis species). In the present study we have attempted to investigate the biological activity of these two prolactin forms during adaptation to a hyperosmotic environment. For this purpose, we have developed two highly sensitive (sensitivity: 0·05 ng/ml) and specific (cross-reactivity <0·04%) radioimmunoassays for tiPRLI and tiPRLII, using recombinant hormones. When fish were directly transferred from fresh to brackish water, the measured levels of plasma tiPRLI and tiPRLII dropped abruptly until 12 h after transfer. Thereafter, plasma tiPRLII remained stable (around 0·5 ng/ml) until the end of the experiment, whereas plasma tiPRLI continued to decrease to undetectable levels. These different patterns of change are reflected in the calculated ratio of plasma tiPRLII to tiPRLI, which increased from 2–3 in fresh water-adapted fish to over 10 in fish which had spent 3 days or more in brackish water. The pituitary contents of tiPRLI and tiPRLII varied in a qualitatively similar fashion after transfer to brackish water. The tiPRLI content dropped continuously after 12 h, reaching one-twelfth of its initial level after 2 weeks. The pituitary tiPRLII content, on the other hand, did not decrease significantly until day 7, and after a 2-week exposure to brackish water it had only decreased by 50%. When injected into tilapia adapted to brackish water, both ovine prolactin and recombinant tiPRLI induced a clear dose-dependent ion-retaining effect. In contrast, the effect induced by tiPRLII treatment was markedly smaller and not dose-dependent. Northern blot analysis of tiPRL mRNAs using either a tiPRLI or a tiPRLII cDNA probe indicated the presence of two mRNAs differing in size: a 1·7 kb mRNA coding for tiPRLI and a 1·3 kb mRNA coding for tiPRLII. After transfer to brackish water, levels of the two mRNAs decreased similarly. The present study indicates that, in O. niloticus, the two forms of prolactin have different osmoregulatory roles during adaptation to brackish water. Accordingly, their syntheses are differentially regulated after transfer to a hyperosmotic environment, presumably at a post-transcriptional level.

Hyperosmotic stress stimulates tissue plasminogen activator expression by a PKC-independent pathway

Shear, stretch, and the generation of oxygen radicals stimulate increases in tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) mRNA levels and antigen production, suggesting that environmental stress may regulate t-PA gene expression. We have examined whether t-PA production is also responsive to a hyperosmotic environment. Endothelial and HeLa cells were treated with hyperosmotic medium, and t-PA mRNA and antigen secretion were measured. Endothelial cells incubated in hyperosmotic medium showed a dose-dependent decrease in cell volume and a 1.9 +/- 0.3- and 3.7 +/- 0.9-fold increase in t-PA secretion at 425 and 485 mosmol/kgH2O, respectively. HeLa cells showed a 3.3 +/- 0.6- and 5.1 +/- 1.2-fold increase at the same osmolalities. Increased secretion began between 8 and 16 h and continued through 24 h. Cultures returned to isosmotic medium after 8 h of treatment continued to release 98.1 +/- 7% of the maximum levels of t-PA for the next 16 h, despite the reversal of other responses to hyperosmotic environment. t-PA mRNA levels also increased between 8 and 16 h to five times control levels but returned to baseline by 24 h. No change in intracellular Ca2+ concentration, inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate, or diacylglycerol content was detected, suggesting that a different intracellular signal pathway may be involved in the response to hyperosmolar stimulus. Thus environmental stress may be a general stimulatory signal through which t-PA production can be induced.