The Physiology of Contractile Vacuoles

Abstract

ABSTRACT On transfer from sea water to dilute sea water, the marine peritrich ciliate Vorticella marina swells more rapidly at higher temperatures. It is concluded that the permeability of the surface of V. marina to water is influenced by temperature, with a Q10 of very roughly 2·5–3·2. The body volume of the fresh-water peritrich ciliate Carchesium aselli is maintained approximately constant when the organism is transferred to solutions of sucrose of concentrations up to about 0·04 M; in higher concentrations the organism shrinks. The rate of output of the contractile vacuole of C. aselli decreases with increasing concentrations of sucrose in the external medium; the rate of output is very low in 0·05 M-sucrose. From a consideration of the effects of sucrose solutions on the body volume and on the rate of vacuolar output it is concluded that the initial osmotic pressure of C. aselli normally exceeds that of the external pond water by about 0 0·4–0· 05 M non-electrolyte. The. internal osmotic pressure of C. aselli is not materially increased by increase of temperature. It is concluded that the increase in rate of vacuolar output, which accompanies increase of temperature, counterbalances an increased rate of osmotic uptake of water from the external medium, and that this increased rate of uptake is due to an effect of temperature on the permeability of the surface through which the water enters. The rate of vacuolar output is temporarily much increased when C. aselli, which has been equilibrated in solutions of ethylene glycol, is returned to pond water. It is suggested that the temperature and the osmotic pressure of the external solution largely determine the osmotic stress which is imposed on the organism, and that they thus influence the state of hydration of the protoplasm; in turn this may be supposed to determine the activity of the contractile vacuole.