Electron-microscopic and morphometric study of vesiculation in the epithelial cell layer of the toad urinary bladder....

Basolateral vesicles are apparent in mitochondria-rich, granular and basal cells of the epithelium of unstimulated toad urinary bladder. Such vesicles are smooth-walled rather than coated. Because of the number of these vesicles, we decided to investigate the effect of arginine vasopressin (AVP) on this vesicle population during the hydroosmotic response. Both glutaraldehyde and glutaraldehyde-osmium tetroxide fixation procedures, as well as electron-microscopic morphometric techniques were utilized. Fifteen min after the administration of AVP in the presence of an osmotic gradient, the intracellular area occupied by basolateral vesicles was increased approximately threefold when compared to unstimulated control hemibladders (0.92 +/- 0.15% vs: 2.67 +/- 0.39%). The intracellular nature of the majority of these vesicles was confirmed by experiments utilizing lanthanum as an electron-dense tracer. It is hypothesized that this vesicular activity may be involved in water movement across the tissue after hormone treatment.