Heavy metal detoxification in crustacean epithelial lysosomes: role of anions in the compartmentalization process.

Crustacean hepatopancreatic lysosomes are organelles of heavy metal sequestration and detoxification. Previous studies have shown that zinc uptake by lysosomal membrane vesicles (LMV) occurred by a vanadate- and thapsigargin-sensitive ATPase that was stimulated by a transmembrane proton gradient established by a co-localized V-ATPase associated with this organelle. In the present study, hepatopancreatic LMV from the American lobster Homarus americanus were prepared by standard centrifugation methods and 65Zn2+, 36Cl-, 35SO(4)2- and 14C-oxalate2- were used to characterize the interactions between the metal and anions during vesicular detoxification events.