Calmodulin as a modulator of NaCl transport in the posterior salt-transporting gills of the Chinese crab Eriocheir sinensis

Abstract

The possible involvement of calmodulin-dependent processes in the control of Na+ and Cl- transport pathways has been investigated on isolated, perfused preparations of salt-transporting posterior gills of the euryhaline Chinese crab Eriocheir sinensis (collected near Emden, Germany in autumn 1990). The anti-calmodulin phenothiazine drugs Chlorpromazine and Trifluoperazine induced depolarization of the transepithelial potential only when added to the serosal bathing saline (socalled “in”). This effect is best interpreted by assuming a disturbance of the conductive Cl- pathways located at the baso-lateral side of the epithelium. In agreement with that conclusion is the fact that Trifluoperazine inhibits the Cl- transepithelial influx. Trifluoperazine also induces inhibition of the Na+ influx when added either to the incubation (out) or to the perfusion (in) medium. These results indicate inhibitory effects of the anticalmodulin drug on both the Na+/K+ pump and leak system located at the serosal side and on the Na+/H+ exchange located at the apical side of the epithelium.