Intestinal Na+ and Cl- levels control drinking behavior in the seawater-adapted eel Anguilla japonica

To analyze drinking mechanisms in seawater teleosts, seawater-adapted eels were used as a model system. When the intestine of the eel was perfused with iso-osmotic mannitol, the eels drank sea water. However, when the perfusion medium was switched to iso-osmotic NaCl, seawater drinking was depressed. This depression was observed even after blocking NaCl absorption across the intestine by replacement of the perfusate with choline chloride or by treatment with furosemide, an inhibitor of NaCl and water absorption across the eel intestine. Furthermore, depression of drinking rate preceded an increase in urine flow by over 1 h. These results indicate that this depression is not due to a recovery of blood volume and suggest that intestinal Cl- itself inhibits drinking. Direct action of luminal Cl- on drinking behavior was further supported by the observation that perfusion with iso-osmotic NMDG-HCl, Tris-HCl, choline chloride and RbCl all inhibited seawater drinking. When NaCl in the perfusion medium was replaced with sodium acetate, sodium butyrate, sodium methylsulfate or NaSCN, the drinking rate was enhanced threefold, suggesting that Na+ itself stimulates drinking in the absence of Cl-. In the present study, concentrations of Na+ and Cl- in the swallowed fluid were also measured simultaneously. As the drinking rate was enhanced, the Na+ and Cl- concentrations in the gastrointestinal fluid were increased. On the basis of these results, it seems possible that high concentrations of Cl- in the intestine reduce the drinking rate, thus lowering esophageal Cl- concentration due to desalination of the ingested sea water. When Cl- concentration in the intestine falls below a certain level, Na+ will stimulate seawater drinking again.