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Transport of sodium and chloride across earthworm skin in vitro

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Abstract

We present a new invertebrate model for the study of epithelial sodium transport in tight epithelia, the earthworm integument. Dissected segments of earthworm integument were mounted in modified Ussing chambers and perfused with either pond water (PW) or earthworm ringer solution (ERS) on the apical side. In order to investigate ion transport under near-in vivo physiological conditions, measurements were performed under current-clamp conditions by monitoring the transepithelial potential (V T), as well as the transepithelial resistance (R T). These were recorded continuously and the virtual short circuit current (I SC) was calculated. The integument has a high transepithelial resistance (R T=9,037±502 Ω cm2 for PW, n=24, and 11,055±1,320 Ω cm2 for ERS, n=32). V T was −3.7±2.2 mV for PW (n=24) and −1.5±1.0 mV for ERS (n=32), and I SC was −0.57±0.30 μA/cm2 for PW (n=24) and −0.44±0.24 μA/cm2 for ERS (n=32). Only under PW, but not under ERS conditions, was there a pronounced inhibition of I SC by low doses of amiloride or its analogues phenamil and benzamil. The resistance of the paracellular pathway was found to be very high. The terrestrial oligochaete Lumbricus seems especially adapted to the environmental conditions because it has an ultra-tight integument and a very fast up- and down-regulation of apical Na+ channels.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The authors thank Margret Hündt and Christa Schwarz for excellent technical assistance. Siegfried Kristek provided the modified Ussing chambers and Bernhard Kahnert provided electrotechnical support. We thank Prof. Horst Brandt for his help with the statistical analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Animal Physiology, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Wartweg 95, 35392, Gießen, Germany

    S. Krumm, S. G. Goebel-Lauth, M. Fronius & W. Clauss

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  1. S. Krumm
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  2. S. G. Goebel-Lauth
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  3. M. Fronius
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  4. W. Clauss
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to W. Clauss.

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Communicated by G. Heldmaier

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Krumm, S., Goebel-Lauth, S.G., Fronius, M. et al. Transport of sodium and chloride across earthworm skin in vitro. J Comp Physiol B 175, 601–608 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-005-0023-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-005-0023-1

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