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Published on: February 7, 2019
Pulmonary carbonic anhydrase in the garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis
Erich K Stabenau1, Kimberly R N Vietti
1Department of Biology, Bradley University, 1501 W. Bradley Avenue, Peoria, IL 61625, USA. eks@bradley.edu
Abstract:
This study examined whether the snake lung possesses intravascular carbonic anhydrase (CA). Lungs were perfused with control salines and with salines containing CA inhibitors. Perfusion with control salines resulted in a stable CO(2) excretion, whereas CA inhibitors significantly reduced pulmonary CO(2) excretion. Membrane-permeable and membrane-impermeable CA inhibitors produced comparable decreases in CO(2) excretion, suggesting that extracellular, intravascular CA participated in the pulmonary CO(2)-HCO3(-)-H(+) reactions. Treatment of lungs with phosphatidylinositol specific-phospholipase C (PI-PLC) significantly decreased CO(2) excretion, indicating that CA was connected to the luminal endothelial cell membrane by a phosphatidylinositol glycan linkage. Taken together, these results are the first to demonstrate the presence of membrane-bound, intravascular CA (CA IV) in the snake lung.
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