Gill paracellular permeability and the osmorespiratory compromise during exercise in the hypoxia-tolerant Amazonian oscar (Astronotus ocellatus).

In the traditional osmorespiratory compromise, fish increase their effective gill permeability to O2 during exercise or hypoxia, and in consequence suffer unfavorable ionic and osmotic fluxes. However oscars, which live in the frequently hypoxic ion-poor waters of the Amazon, actually decrease ionic fluxes across the gills during acute hypoxia without changing gill paracellular permeability, and exhibit rapid paving over of the mitochondrial-rich cells (MRCs). But what happens during prolonged exercise? Gill paracellular permeability, ionic fluxes, and gill morphology were examined in juvenile oscars at rest and during aerobic swimming.

Ionoregulatory Aspects of the Osmorespiratory Compromise during Acute Environmental Hypoxia in 12 Tropical and Temperate Teleosts.

In the traditional osmorespiratory compromise, as seen in the hypoxia-intolerant freshwater rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), the branchial modifications that occur to improve O2 uptake during hypoxia result in unfavorable increases in the fluxes of ions and water. However, at least one hypoxia-tolerant freshwater species, the Amazonian oscar (Astronotus ocellatus), shows exactly the opposite: decreased branchial flux rates of ions, water, and nitrogenous wastes during acute hypoxia. In order to find out whether the two strategies were widespread, we used a standard 2-h normoxia, 2-h hypoxia (20%-30% saturation), 2-h normoxic recovery protocol to survey 10 other phylogenetically diverse tropical and temperate species.

Mechanisms of Na+ uptake, ammonia excretion, and their potential linkage in native Rio Negro tetras (Paracheirodon axelrodi, Hemigrammus rhodostomus, and Moenkhausia diktyota).

Mechanisms of Na(+) uptake, ammonia excretion, and their potential linkage were investigated in three characids (cardinal, hemigrammus, moenkhausia tetras), using radiotracer flux techniques to study the unidirectional influx (J in), efflux (J out), and net flux rates (J net) of Na(+) and Cl(-), and the net excretion rate of ammonia (J Amm). The fish were collected directly from the Rio Negro, and studied in their native "blackwater" which is acidic (pH 4.5), ion-poor (Na(+), Cl(-) ~20 µM), and rich in dissolved organic matter (DOM 11.

Measuring gill paracellular permeability with polyethylene glycol-4000 in freely swimming trout: proof of principle.

The influence of swimming activity on gill paracellular permeability has not been measured previously in fishes. We critically assessed the use of tritium-labeled polyethylene glycol ([(3)H]PEG-4000) for this purpose, a substance that is also a classic marker for extracellular fluid volume, glomerular filtration rate and drinking rate. Tests (8 h) on resting freshwater trout showed that when measuring [(3)H]PEG-4000 clearance from the plasma in the efflux direction, correction for a large excretion via glomerular filtration was essential, necessitating urinary catheterization.

Impact of environmental oxygen, exercise, salinity, and metabolic rate on the uptake and tissue-specific distribution of 17α-ethynylestradiol in the euryhaline teleost Fundulus heteroclitus.

17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2) is a synthetic estrogen that is an endocrine disruptive toxicant in aquatic environments. The aim of this study was to determine whether metabolic rate influenced EE2 uptake in male killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus), based on the hypothesis that the mechanism of EE2 uptake at the gills is similar to that of oxygen. F.