Cell volume regulation in crustaceans: Relationship between mechanisms for controlling the osmolality of extracellular and intracellular fluids

Abstract

AbstractThe control of cell volume in tissues of crustaceans acclimating to salinity changes cannot be ascribed to a single mechanism; it results rather from different processes acting both at the cell level and at the blood level. The mechanisms at work at the cell level are discussed and some possible relations between them and those acting at the blood level are considered. The amino acids leaking out of the cells during cell volume readjustment, following application of hypoosmotic conditions, can be stored in the form of blood proteins. Increased deamination and oxidation of amino acids also occur under such conditions, the products of this increased catabolic activity being used in the gills as counterions for NaCl active uptake.