Stretch-induced changes in geometry and ultrastructure of transporting surfaces of toad bladder

Abstract

Methods were developed for estimation of the area of the microscopic and ultramicroscopic surface of the toad bladder epithelium at various degrees of stretch. Bladder sacs fixed while containing 2.5, 5, 25 or 50 ml of mucosal fluid were studied. For a perfect, hollow elastic sphere, this range of volume corresponds to a sevenfold range of surface area. In the bladder, this increase could be achieved by unfolding of surface irregularities, with no change in surface area, or by stretching the epithelial membrane. The measured microscopic surface area increased threeinstead of sevenfold, but the ultramicroscopic surface remained constant. Thus the bladder stretches (1) by unfolding of the mucosal epithelium, and (2) by flattening of the microvilli. From measurements of the apparent thickness of the mucosal epithelium alone and of the entire bladder, we conclude that the former behaves like a flexible inelastic sheet, whereas the submucosa and serosa stretch elastically. Lateral intercellular spaces do not widen with stretch, but they do become more convoluted because of thinning of the epithelium. Thinning is unlikely to explain the increased sodium transport which follows stretching, because cytoplasmic resistance cannot approach total transepithelial resistance of this preparation.