Ammonia transport by the urinary bladder of Bufo marinus

All experiments were performed in vitro on toad bladders. Bladder sacs from acidotic toads produced a concentration gradient across the bladder with both [NH3] and [NH4] higher in the mucosal media. By varying the pH of the serosal media, paired sacs from normal toads were incubated with similar [NH3] in the serosal media but a 75 fold difference in [NH4] of the serosal media of the pairs. The hemibladders with the higher [NH4] had a 2.4 fold greater excretory flux than the paired sac. Both serosal to mucosal and mucosal to serosal fluxes were determined in normal bladders between chambers at various ammonium concentration gradients. The plot of mucosal to serosal flux against concentration produced a curve compatible with both carrier mediated and diffusion transport; the plot of serosal to mucosal flux produced a straight line with flux increasing when the ammonium concentration was increased. The serosal to mucosal transepithelial flux was augmented by making the serosal side of the bladder 50 mV positive. Although NH3 diffusion may occur, it cannot be the primary method of ammonia transport in the toad bladder.