Ion and water transport across multicellular membranes through extracellular space by chemiperistaltic waves.

Abstract

It is assumed that waves of configurational change of cell surface proteins can pass over the length of columnar cells in a multicellular membrane, thus passing across the membrane. It is expected that waves of change in fluidity of surface water and of Na+ vs K+ complexing preference by cell surface proteins will result from the waves of change in surface protein configuration. The entire wave process is called a chemiperistaltic wave, and is a natural extension of the concepts embodied in the association-induction hypothesis of Ling. It is shown that chemiperistaltic waves may transport Na+ across multicellular membranes through extracellular space between cells in a manner which is consistent with the experiments of Cereijidoet al. (1968) on frog skin. Equations for transport of Na+ by chemiperistaltic waves are derived for an idealized membrane. It seems possible that Na+−K+ activated ATPase may represent the isolated form of the cell surface protein in which chemiperistaltic waves are propagated or that an actomyosin-like protein may be involved.