Basolateral membrane responses to transport modifiers in the frog skin epithelium

Application of transepithelial square voltage pulses to the frog skin leads to responses in the transepithelial current and intracellular potential which include transient components. Determinations at 600 ms allow for meaningful estimates of basolateral membrane responses to transport modifiers. Oxytocin produced a large and sustained increase in the amiloride-inhibitable short circuit current (Im) which was accompanied by a large increase of both apical and basolateral membrane conductance (ga and gb, respectively). While Im and ga increased nearly simultaneously, gb started to increase several minutes after the increase in the two other parameters. Insulin also increased Im, ga and gb. As with oxytocin, the increases in Im and ga often preceded the changes in gb. Ouabain reduced Im and ga. The effects on gb were more complex, since sometimes the inhibition of Im was first accompanied by an increase followed by a decrease while in other instances only minor changes in conductance could be observed. The currently available information regarding the control of cytoplasmic [Ca2+] and the effects of Ca2+ on cell membrane properties are used to construct a model in which changes in cytoplasmic [Ca2+] account for the observed behavior of the basolateral membrane.