Interrelationships between gill chloride cell morphology and calcium uptake in freshwater teleosts

The involvement of the freshwater fish gill chloride cells (CCs) in trans-branchial calcium uptake (JinCa(2+)) was investigated. This was accomplished by assessing the interspecific relationships between the apical surface area of CCs exposed to the external environment and JinCa(2+). Three species of freshwater teleosts, the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), the American eel (Anguilla rostrata) and the brown bullhead catfish (Ictalurus nebulosus), were used. Chronic (ten-day) treatment with cortisol in each species was used as a tool to evoke variations in both JinCa(2+) and gill CC morphology in order to assess intraspecific relationships between CC surface area and JinCa(2+). The results of quantitative morphometry, based on analysis of scanning electron micrographs, demonstrated that catfish possessed the lowest fractional area of exposed CC (CCFA) on the gill filament epithelium (12,744 ± 2248 μm(2)/mm(2)) and was followed, in increasing order, by American eel (21,355 ± 981 μm(2)/mm(2)) and rainbow trout (149,928 ± 26,545 μm(2)/mm(2)). With the exception of catfish, chronic treatment with cortisol caused significant increases in CCFA owing to proliferation of CCs and/or enlargement of individual CCs (eel only). The rates of JinCa(2+) closely reflected the CC fractional area in each species. The results of correlation analysis revealed significant correlations between CC fractional area and JinCa(2+) in trout and eel. Owing to the absence of an effect of cortisol treatment, there was no significant correlation in catfish because of insufficient variation in CC fractional area in this species. CC fractional area was significantly correlated with JinCa(2+) among the three species examined. These results suggest that CC is involved in calcium uptake in freshwater teleosts and that both intra- and interspecific differences in the rates of calcium uptake can be accounted for by variability in the surface area of exposed CCs on the gill epithelia.