Hormonal control of chloride transport across locust rectum

Abstract

Rates of ion transport across locust recta were monitored in vitro by following fluxes of 22Na+ and 36Cl−, short-circuit current (Isc), and open-circuit electropotential difference (PD) across this epithelium for several hours. Corpora cardiaca (CC) homogenates, cAMP, theophylline, and hemolymph of recently fed locusts all stimulate electrogenic transport of Cl− across locust rectum, as indicated by a two- to three-fold increase in 36Cl− net flux, Isc, and PD. Cyclic AMP caused a Cl-dependent increase in PD across the lumen-facing but not the hemocoel-facing plasma membrane of the epithelial cells. We propose that a blood-borne factor, possibly from the CC, causes an elevation in cAMP levels in rectal tissue and that this second messenger acts by increasing Cl− entry into the cell from the rectal lumen. Additional fluid absorption accompanies the resulting increase in transport of NaCl, leading to an increase in the hemolymph volume of previously dehydrated locusts.