Very low osmotic water permeability and membrane fluidity in isolated toad bladder granules

Osmotic water permeability of the apical membrane of toad urinary epithelium is increased greatly by vasopressin (VP) and is associated with exocytic addition of granules and aggrephores at the apical surface. To determine the physiological role of granule exocytosis, we measured the osmotic water permeability and membrane fluidity of isolated granules, surface membranes and microsomes prepared from toad bladder in the presence and absence of VP. Pf was measured by stopped-flow light scattering and membrane fluidity was examined by diphenylhexatriene (DPH) fluorescence anisotropy. In response to a 75 mM inward sucrose gradient, granule size decreased with a single exponential time constant of 2.3 +/- 0.1 sec (SEM, seven preparations, 23 degrees C), corresponding to a Pf of 5 x 10(-4) cm/sec; the activation energy (Ea) for Pf was 17.6 +/- 0.8 kcal/mole. Under the same conditions, the volume of surface membrane vesicles decreased biexponentially with time constants of 0.13 and 1.9 sec; the fast component comprised approximately 70% of the signal. Granule, surface membrane and microsome time constants were unaffected by VP. However, in surface membranes, there was a small decrease (6 +/- 2%) in the fraction of surface membranes with fast time constant. DPH anisotropies were 0.253 (granules), 0.224 (surface membranes) and 0.190 (microsomes), and were unaffected by VP. We conclude: (1) granules have among the lowest water permeabilities of biological membranes, (2) granule water permeability is not altered by bladder pretreatment with VP, (3) granule membrane fluidity is remarkably lower than that of surface and microsomal membranes, and (4) rapid water transport occurs in surface membrane vesicles. The unique physical properties of the granule suggests that apical exocytic addition of granule membrane may be responsible for the low water permeability of the unstimulated apical membrane.