Passive and active ion transport by the urinary bladder of a euryhaline flounder

The effects of voltage clamping on the flux ratios and unidirectional and net fluxes of Na and Cl were used to gain insight into the mechanisms of active and passive ion transport across urinary bladders isolated from seawater-(SW) and freshwater-acclimated (FW) flounder, Platichthys stellatus. Although the transepithelial conductance (Gt = 2.77 mS X cm-2) of FW bladders was much greater than that of SW bladders (Gt = 0.40 mS X cm-2), the current-voltage relationships of both SW and FW bladders were markedly nonlinear. Under short-circuit conditions there was a large difference in the serosal-to-mucosal Na flux (JNasm) between SW (0.10 mueq X cm-2 X h-1) and FW (1.71 mueq X cm-2 X h-1) bladders, but their mannitol permeabilities were identical. The results indicate that 1) the paracellular pathway of both SW and FW bladders is Cl selective and Cl movements through the shunt account for a maximum of 90% of Gt in SW bladders and 19% in FW bladders; 2) the larger Gt of FW bladders is due to greater conductance of the apical cell membrane; 3) the majority of the passive ion movement across these epithelia proceeds through nonconductive, presumably transcellular, pathways; and 4) active transport of Na and Cl occurs by neutral coupling to each other and to other unidentified ions.