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Objective: To investigate the role of aqueous garlic extract (AGE) on the water-avoidance stress (WAS)-induced degeneration of the urinary bladder in a rat model., Materials and Methods: Wistar albino rats were exposed to WAS for 2 h/day for 5 days (WAS group), after which, AGE (1 mL/kg) was injected intraperitoneally into the rats (WAS + AGE group). Urinary bladder samples were investigated with both light and scanning electron microscopy, and lipid peroxidation and glutathione levels were also measured in the samples., Results: In the WAS group there was inflammatory cell infiltration, more mast cells and ulcerated areas in the mucosa. In the WAS + AGE group there was relatively normal urothelial alignment, moderate inflammatory cell infiltration and fewer mast cells in the mucosa. The increased lipid peroxidation and decreased glutathione levels in WAS rats were reversed by AGE treatment., Conclusions: These results show that AGE has a protective effect on WAS-induced degenerative changes in the urinary bladder.

Washout of autacoids from serosal Ringer solution, using a repeated change of the solution of the frog and trout urinary bladder, was accompanied by a pronounced rise in the osmotic water permeability: the water transport in the frog rose from 0.05 +/- 0.02 to 1.21 +/- 0.26 microliter min-1.cm-2, in the trout, from 0.041 +/- 0.011 to 0.26 +/- 0.034 microliter min-1.cm-2. Such an increase in the osmotic water permeability in the trout and frog urinary bladder occurred in the background of a decrease in the prostaglandin E2 concentration in the serosal Ringer solution. This permeability increase was accompanied by the formation of aggregates of intramembranous particles in the apical plasma membrane of the trout and frog urinary bladder. A decrease in the osmotic water permeability was achieved by the addition to the serosal Ringer solution of 10-8 M prostaglandin. Experiments on the frog urinary bladder have shown that prostaglandins E1, I2 and F2 alpha also decrease the osmotic water permeability. Vasotocin increased the osmotic water permeability in the frog urinary bladder but did not affect the osmotic water permeability of the trout urinary bladder. The data obtained indicates a role of the endogenous prostaglandin production in maintaining the low osmotic water permeability in the frog and trout urinary bladder. A suggestion is made that in the vertebrate evolution, colonisation of the fresh-water was connected with the maintenance of the low osmotic water permeability via participation of prostaglandins, whereas the vasotocin hydroosmotic effect developed in the vertebrate evolution later and provided for the possibility of the water absorption, osmotic homeostasis and animal migration from fresh-water to the land.

It is well known that arginine vasopressin (AVP) produces up to a 40-fold increase (0.1 to 4.0 microL/min.cm2) in net water flux across the amphibian urinary bladder under an osmotic gradient (mucosal side 10% hypotonic). No AVP effect is observed when the gradient is in the opposite direction (serosal hypotonic). Similar asymmetrical behavior to osmotic gradients occurs in the frog corneal epithelium. This rectification phenomenon has not been satisfactorily explained. We measured net water fluxes in bladder sacs and confirmed that AVP has no effect when the serosal bath is hypotonic. We reasoned that the 'abnormal' serosal osmolarity was inducing changes in membrane water permeability, the very parameter being measured. Thus, we studied the effect of solution osmolarity on diffusional water flow (Jdw) across the frog bladder using 3H2O. As expected, AVP doubled Jdw (in either direction from 12 to 21 microL/min.cm2) when the serosal solution was iso-osmolar regardless of mucosal osmolarity. However, in the AVP-stimulated bladders, hypo-osmolarity of the serosal solution reduced Jdw by 42%, an effect that was reversible when normal osmolarity was re-established. Amphotericin B (instead of AVP) was used to irreversibly increase the permeability to water of the apical membrane. Under these conditions, basolateral hypotonicity also reversibly decreased Jdw by 32%, suggesting the basolateral membrane as the site where permeability is reduced. SEM and TEM of the tissue shows extreme swelling when it was exposed to serosal hypotonicity with or without AVP and typical surface morphology changes following hormone stimulation. We conclude that this swelling may initiate a signaling mechanism that reduces basolateral water permeability. These findings constitute evidence of basolateral water channel permeability regulation, which can also contribute to cell volume regulation.

In the isolated frog urinary bladder a 20- to 50-fold increase of the osmotic water permeability has been revealed in the absence of arginine vasopressin (AVP) as a result of several successive changes of the serosal Ringer solution. This increase of the osmotic water permeability was of the same magnitude as that of the effect of 1 nM AVP. Similarly to the effect of AVP, the amount of adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) in the cells rose, and aggregates of intramembraneous particles were formed in the apical plasma membrane of granular cells (as shown by the freeze-fracture method). Immunocytochemical studies using anti-actin monoclonal antibodies indicated depolymerization of F-actin following the AVP-independent change in water permeability. It was possible to decrease the high level of osmotic permeability to the initial level if 10 microl/ml of frog blood serum or a lipid extract of this blood serum, or 1 microM arachidonic acid or 1 nM prostaglandin E2 was added to the serosal Ringer solution. The rapid restoration of the osmotic water impermeability of the epithelium after the AVP- evoked effect was achieved by the addition to the serosal Ringer solution of Ringer solution in which intact frog urinary bladders had been previously incubated for 1 h. The data obtained indicate that the maintenance of the impermeability to water of the osmoregulating epithelium and the restoration of the initial low level of the osmotic permeability after the effect of AVP are due to participation of prostaglandin E2 and other autacoids as well as, probably, some physiologically active substances of a lipid nature that are present in the blood serum.

In experiments on isolated frog urinary bladders it has been found that the low basal level of water permeability in the absence of arginine-vasopressin (AVP) could be significantly increased when the serosal solution was changed several times every 15 min for a fresh Ringer solution. The electron microscopic study of these cells by the freeze-fracture technique showed that the enhancement of water permeability by AVP-independent manner was related to the appearance of intramembranous particle aggregates in luminal membrane of granular cell, that are usually observed only under the action of AVP. The immunocytochemical experiments with monoclonal antibodies against actin revealed the similarity in intracellular actin distribution under the action of AVP and AVP-independent increase of water permeability.

Structural and chemical peculiarities of the Golgi apparatus elements in granular cells of the normal frog urinary epithelium and under vasopressin stimulation of water transport have been studied with different electron microscopic methods: standard chemical fixation, prolonged osmification, freeze-substitution, freeze-fracture, immunocytochemistry, and electron-probe X-ray microanalysis. The structure of the main Golgi elements and its derivatives in normal cells and under the stimulation of water transport has been described. The association of microtubules with the Golgi cisternae was shown. Microtubules are supposed to participate in the support of integrity of the Golgi complex (in normal cells). Under stimulated water transport, depolymerization of microtubules seems to occur, resulting eventually in the Golgi fragmentation. Participation of some specific granules, that are the Golgi derivatives, in the increase of apical membrane water permeability has been shown as the insertion of water channels. Besides, under big water flows, the Golgi cis-cisternae were shown to participate in the formation of large vacuoles containing low potassium. A supposition is put forward that these vacuoles may perform an osmoregulative function in the cell, similar to that of contractile vacuoles of Protozoa.

Vasopressin stimulates transepithelial water flow in the toad urinary bladder. We report here that N-ethyl maleimide (NEM) (0.1 mM) produces a similar increase in osmotic water flow when applied to the mucosal surface of the tissue. NEM-induced water flow is sensitive to inhibitors of hormone-induced water flow, including serosal acidification, or exposure to quinidine or cytoskeleton-disruptive drugs. NEM-induced water flow is additive with that induced by a submaximal, but not a maximal, dose of vasopressin. The response to mucosal NEM is not reversed on removal of the reagent, but established NEM-induced water flow can be inhibited by serosal acidification or quinidine. Like vasopressin, mucosal NEM induces the appearance of fusion profiles and intramembranous particle aggregates (putative water channels) in the apical plasma membrane of the granular cells, and the incidence of particle aggregates correlates with water flow. NEM does not cause an increase in intracellular cAMP. Our data suggest that NEM stimulates transepithelial water flow by irreversibly activating cellular mechanisms normally triggered by vasopressin, hence causing the insertion of water channels.

In toad bladder granular cells, antidiuretic hormone (ADH) stimulates insertion of vesicles containing water channels (WCV), markedly increasing apical membrane osmotic water permeability (Pf). After withdrawal of ADH stimulation, WCV are removed from the apical membrane and fluid-phase markers endocytosed from the apical solution appear predominantly in endosomes at 10-15 min and multivesicular bodies at 30-60 min. Although the luminal contents of this endocytic pathway have been well characterized, the fate of membrane proteins, including functional ADH water channels in these vesicles remains unclear. Using electron microscopic, flow cytometric, and stopped-flow fluorescence measurements and characterization of labeled vesicle proteins, we examined the fate of membrane proteins contained within WCV. The protein complements of endosomes harvested after 10, 30, and 60 min of ADH withdrawal were similar. Selective covalent labeling of apical proteins during ADH stimulation followed by ADH reversal for 30 or 60 min showed that apical proteins colocalize with fluid-phase marker-labeled endosomes at all times, and most apically labeled protein bands present in the 10-min fraction were also present in the 30- and 60-min endosome fractions. Endosomes at 10 and 30 min but not at 60 min contained functional water channels revealed by high Pf and proton permeability, low activation energy of Pf, and sensitivity of Pf to mercurial reagents. We conclude that a portion of apically exposed membrane proteins, including candidate water channel proteins, travel together with fluid-phase markers from 10-min endosomes into later endosomal compartments. Functional water channels may be inactivated or some essential protein component selectively sorted away between 30 and 60 min after ADH withdrawal.

The water permeability of ADH target epithelial cells is believed to be regulated by a cycle of exo-endocytosis of vesicles containing functional water channels. These vesicles were selectively labeled in intact frog urinary bladders with an impermeant fluorescent marker, 6-carboxyfluorescein. Vesicle suspensions containing the labeled endosomes were obtained by homogenization and differential centrifugation of bladder epithelial cells. The osmotic permeability of the endocytic vesicles was measured, using a stopped-flow fluorescence technique, in the absence or in the presence of HgCl2. This permeability was found very high (500 microns/sec) and inhibited by 1 mM HgCl2 (90%), thus confirming the presence of water channels. The labeled endosomes were then separated from the other membrane vesicles by flow cytometry and sorting. Their protein content was analyzed by electrophoresis on ultrathin polyacrylamide gels. Two double bands were found at 71 and 55 kDa as well as a small band at 43 kDa. They respectively correspond to 31, 38 and 10% of the total amount of silver-stained proteins present in the sorted endosomes, while they only represent 2, 4, and less than 1% of the proteins contained in the vesicle suspension, before sorting. These highly enriched proteins (or at least one of them) are likely to be involved in the mechanism of water transport. Associated to their partial purification by differential centrifugation, the sorting of the endosomes by flow cytometry seems a good way to further characterize the water channel.

Certain types of epithelial cells such as those lining the toad urinary bladder have been classified as "tight" because their apical membranes exhibit low permeabilities to water, ions, and small nonelectrolytes. However, the permeability properties and structural features of these specialized apical membranes remain unclear because these membranes have never been purified. To isolate toad bladder granular cell apical membranes, we derivatized the bladder apical surface with the membrane-impermeant bifunctional reagent N-hydroxysulfosuccinimydyl-S,S-biotin (NHS-SS-biotin). After cell disruption, these derivatized apical membranes were purified using streptavidin-coated magnetic beads in a magnetic field. With the use of lactoperoxidase-mediated radioiodination as a marker for apical membrane, this preparative procedure purified apical membrane 48- or 72-fold as compared with homogenate. Thin section electron microscopy revealed unilamellar vesicles with some nonvesiculated membranes, while fragments of organelles such as mitochondria were absent. Water and nonelectrolyte permeabilities of purified apical membrane vesicles were similar to those obtained in intact bladders in the absence of antidiuretic hormone stimulation. The results demonstrate that isolated apical vesicles do not contain water channels and confirm the applicability of Overton's rule to the apical membrane of the toad urinary bladder. The technique has general applicability to isolation of other plasma membranes, and the apical membranes obtained are suitable for structural analysis.

1. In salt-acclimated frogs, water and urea bladder permeabilities are markedly higher than in tap water-acclimated animals. 2. Intra-membrane particle aggregates (IMPA) cover an unusually large surface area of the salt-acclimated frog bladder apical plasma membrane. 3. In saline-adapted animals, proteins extracted from the apical plasma membrane contain additional species of 19, 26, 31 and 53-61 kDa. These proteins might be related to the water channels contained by IMPA.

In the amphibian urinary bladder, the increase in water permeability induced by antidiuretic hormone (ADH) is accompanied by the appearance of apical intramembrane particle (IMP) aggregates that are believed to contain specific channels for water. In a previous work, we have shown that 3,3'-diallyldiethylstilbestrol (DADES), a synthetic estrogen which is a blocker of the glucose transporter, also inhibits the hydrosmotic response to ADH in the bladder. Our aim in the present study was to analyze the alterations of the membrane fine structure further and to correlate them with the water permeability changes. The results point to a selective inhibition of the ADH-induced net water flow, probably due to an interference with one of the last steps of the response to the hormone. This inhibition is associated with an increase in the density of the apical IMP aggregates, which are thus probably not operational. The resting net water flow is not inhibited and, surprisingly, typical IMP aggregates are frequently observed in the apical membrane after DADES treatment. The compound also induces the appearance of unusual loose IMP clusters that can only be seen on the apical membrane of the granular cells and that share several ultrastructural similarities with the ADH-induced aggregates. These results suggest that 1) apical DADES treatment stimulates the insertion of IMP aggregates in the apical membrane of the urinary bladder and 2) DADES inhibits the ADH-induced water flow by interfering with the aggregates and thus probably by blocking the specific water channels.

The transepithelial water permeability in frog urinary bladder is believed to be essentially dependent on the ADH-regulated apical water permeability. To get a better understanding of the transmural water movement, the diffusional water permeability (Pd) of the basolateral membrane of urinary bladder was studied. Access to this post-luminal barrier was made possible by "perforating" the apical membrane with amphotericin B. The addition of this antibiotic increased Pd from 1.12 +/- 0.10 x 10(-4) cm/sec (n = 7) to 4.08 +/- 0.33 x 10(-4) cm/sec (n = 7). The effect of mercuric sulfhydryl reagents, which are commonly used to characterize water channels, was tested on amphotericin B-treated bladders. HgCl2 (10(-3) M) decreased Pd by 52% and parachloromercuribenzoic acid (pCMB) (1.4 x 10(-4) M) by 34%. The activation energy for the diffusional water transport was found to increase from 4.52 +/- 0.23 kcal/mol (n = 3), in the control situation, to 9.99 +/- 0.91 kcal/mol (n = 4) in the presence of 1.4 x 10(-4) M pCMB. Our second approach was to measure the kinetics of water efflux, by stop-flow light scattering, on isolated epithelial cells from urinary bladders. pCMB (0.5 or 1.4 x 10(-4) M) was found to inhibit water exit by 91 +/- 2%. These data strongly support the existence of proteins responsible for water transport across the basolateral membrane, which are permanently present.

Using different electron microscopic techniques, parallel studies of structural alterations in the apical membrane and specific granules of the frog urinary bladder granular cells were made. The results obtained suggest the participation of granule membranes in the formation of highly permeable domains in the apical membranes. After ADH action, the domains with high water permeability are internalized bringing cell membrane retrieval.

Osmotic water permeability (Pf) in toad bladder is regulated by the vasopressin (VP)-dependent movement of vesicles containing water channels between the cytoplasm and apical membrane of granular cells. Apical endosomes formed in the presence of serosal VP have the highest Pf of any biological or artificial membrane (Shi and Verkman. 1989. J. Gen. Physiol. 94:1101-1115). We examine here: (a) the influence of protein kinase A and C effectors on transepithelial Pf (Pfte) in intact bladders and on the number and Pf of labeled endosomes, and (b) whether endosome Pf can be modified physically or biochemically. In paired hemibladder studies, Pfte induced by maximal serosal VP (50 mU/ml, 0.03 cm/s) was not different than that induced by 8-Br-cAMP (1 mM), forskolin (50 microM), VP + 8-Br-cAMP, or VP + forskolin. Pf was measured in endosomes labeled in intact bladders with carboxyfluorescein by a stopped-flow, fluorescence-quenching assay using an isolated microsomal suspension; the number and Pf (0.08-0.11 cm/s, 18 degrees C) of labeled endosomes was not different in bladders treated with VP, forskolin, and 8-Br-cAMP. Protein kinase C activation by 1 microM mucosal phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) induced submaximal bladder Pfte (0.015 cm/s) and endosome Pf (0.022 cm/s) in the absence of VP, but had little effect on maximal Pfte and endosome Pf induced by VP. However, PMA increased by threefold the number of apical endosomes with high Pf formed in response to serosal VP. Pf of endosomes containing the VP-sensitive water channel decreased fourfold by increasing membrane fluidity with hexanol or chloroform (0-75 mM); Pf of phosphatidylcholine liposomes (0.002 cm/s) increased 2.5-fold under the same conditions. Endosome Pf was mildly pH dependent, strongly inhibited by HgCl2, but not significantly altered by GTP gamma S, Ca, ATP + protein kinase A, and phosphatase action. We conclude that: (a) water channels cycled in endocytic vesicles are functional and not subject to physiological regulation, (b) VP and forskolin do not have cAMP-independent cellular actions, (c) activation of protein kinase C stimulates trafficking of water channels, but does not increase the number of apical membrane water channels induced by maximal VP, and (d) water channel function is sensitive to membrane fluidity. By using VP and PMA together, large quantities of endosomes containing the VP-sensitive water channel are labeled with fluid-phase endocytic markers.

Antidiuretic hormone (ADH) stimulation of toad urinary bladder granular cells causes simultaneous increases in transepithelial water and H+ permeabilities (PF and PH+, respectively), suggesting that ADH-elicited water channels inserted into granular cell apical membranes might be permeable to both water and H+. We have previously used self-quenching fluorophores entrapped within endocytic vesicles selectively retrieved from water-permeable apical membranes to measure vesicle PF. The membranes of these vesicles possess an extremely high PF such that our measurements provide only minimum estimates of vesicle PF and have limited our ability to quantitate the properties of ADH water channels. We therefore quantitated vesicle PH+ using similar rapid mixing techniques. Vesicle PH+ was 5.1 +/- 0.5 x 10(-3) cm/s. Activation energy of this process was 3.6 +/- 0.6 kcal/mol, indicative of H+ flux through an aqueous channel. The mercurial reagent, para-chloromercuribenzenesulfonate (PCMBS), which inhibits ADH-stimulated transepithelial PF in intact bladders by 50-60%, inhibited vesicle PH+ by 55%. N-Ethylmaleimide and phloretin, which do not alter ADH-stimulated PF, did not affect vesicle PH+. We conclude that membranes containing ADH water channels possess substantial PH+ that likely reflects proton flux through water channels. The apparent high PH+ of the ADH water channel may have important implications for intracellular trafficking of these water channels in ADH-responsive epithelial cells.

The author's own and literary data are reviewed on the ultrastructural changes in cells of tight epithelia at the stimulation of osmotic water flows by vasopressin. The results of the relevant morphofunctional studies proved the idea of the transcellular water transport, being the following: 1) the absence of structural changes of tight junction under big water flows; 2) the appearance of domains with high water permeability (aggregates of IMP) in the apical membranes of cells transporting water; 3) changes in the vacuolar system of cells resulting in the appearance of gigantic vacuoles involved in transcellular water transport and in osmoregulation; 4) the redistribution of microfilaments and the enlargement of microtubules during the water transport. Hypotheses are discussed accounting for the origin of water channels from intracellular sources (aggrephores or/and granules); in addition, structural peculiarities and genesis of gigantic vacuoles are considered.

The mucosal cell surface of the toad urinary bladder was examined by scanning electron microscopy, and changes in the structure of the surface of the granular cell were correlated with specific physiological responses to vasopressin. Survey views of the mucosal surface demonstrated that there was no consistent repeating anatomical relationship between the granular cell and the mitochondria-rich cell that would support the concept of cooperativeness in the response to vasopressin. During base-line states of Na+-transport and water flux, the microvilli on the mucosal surface of the granular cell are arranged in a ridge-like network with occasional individual projections. When water flux is increased by exposing the tissue to vasopressin, in the presence of an osmotic gradient across the tissue the microvilli on the granular cell lose the ridge structure and appear, predominantly, as individual projection. Variability-of this appearance points out the necessity of examining large areas and many samples before the significance of any morphological change can be assessed. Blocking the simultaneously occurring natriferic response of the toad urinary bladder with 10(-2)M ouabain does not prevent these changes in the microvilli. When the hydro-osmotic response is blocked by eliminating the osmotic gradient, the granular cell shows no consistent change in mucosal surface morphology even when fixed at the height of the natriferic response. The mitochondria-rich and mucous cells did not show any change in morphology throughout these studies. We conclude that the changes in the mucosal surface morphology of the toad bladder seen after exposure to vasopressin are a result of the increased water flux that occurs when an osmotic gradient exists across the tissue, and are not related to the natriferic response or any specific alteration in the membrane properties.

The ADH-induced water fluxes and the associated appearance of intramembranous particle aggregates in the luminal membrane of frog urinary bladders have been correlated in a time course study. Plots of the onset and reversal of the oxytocin-induced hydrosmotic response were sigmoidal in shape, symmetrical and slowed by low temperature to the same degree. Parallel freeze-fracture studies showed that the mean size distribution of the aggregates was constant at different temperatures and at different times during hormonal stimulation and washout. No qualitatively different picture of aggregate formation was detected at low temperature: this suggests that the insertion and removal of individual aggregates into or from the apical plasma membrane is a rather rapid process, both at 20 and at 6.5 degrees C. As in the case of water permeability, both aggregate appearance and disappearance were similarly slowed by lowering the temperature. A similar time-course study of the inhibition of the hydrosmotic response by acidification of the medium was also made. In this case, lowering the incubation temperature induced a clear dissociation between net water flow and the surface area occupied by the aggregates. For the first time, a low water permeability was found associated with a high aggregate surface area in the apical membrane, indicating that cellular acidification induces an impairment of aggregate function rather than a reduction of surface area.

Mucosal acidification to pH 6.5 reduced by 88% the oxytocin- (2.2 x 10(-8) M) elicited increase of water permeability in frog urinary bladder. Mucosal alkalinization (pH 10.5) increased by as much as 200% the response to the same concentration of oxytocin. These effects were not observed when supramaximal concentrations of oxytocin were imployed. Similar changes were found when the serosal pH was modified. The hydrosmotic responses elicited by serosal hypertonicity or cyclic AMP plus theophylline were also affected by mucosal or serosal changes of the hydrogen in concentration, suggesting an effect at a post-cyclic AMP level. Important interactions were found between luminal pH and serosal hypertonicity when experimental conditions were employed similar to those observed in the collecting duct of mammalian nephron. Freeze-fracture studies showed that the number of intramembranous aggregates of particles induced by ADH in the luminal membrane was reduced by mucosal acidification and augmented by an increase in medium pH.

Mercurial reagents inhibit the water permeability of erythrocytes and proximal renal tubule. We examined the effect of two such agents on vasopressin-induced water transport across toad urinary bladder. Water flows were measured in unfixed tissues and in tissues fixed either with N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) or with glutaraldehyde. When added concurrently with 20 mU/ml vasopressin, 1 mM mucosal p-chloromercuribenzene-sulfonic acid (p-CMBS) inhibited water flow within 1 h. p-CMBS also inhibited flow in tissues that had been fixed with mucosal NEM after stimulation with vasopressin. However, p-CMBS did not affect flow in glutaraldehyde-fixed tissues. In contrast, HgCl2 inhibited water flow and urea permeability even in tissues that had been fixed with glutaraldehyde after stimulation with vasopressin. Inhibition was more pronounced when HgCl2 was added to the mucosal rather than the serosal bathing medium and was not reversed by dithiothreitol. HgCl2 did not diminish the frequency or area of luminal membrane aggregates observed by freeze-fracture electron microscopy. HgCl2 also did not affect amphotericin-induced water permeability in glutaraldehyde-treated tissues, suggesting that it did not diminish the permeability of cellular barriers to flow. Our results parallel closely those reported by other investigators for water flow across erythrocytes and proximal renal tubule and suggest that mercurial reagents can directly block the vasopressin-induced water channel. The water channel at the apical membrane of the toad bladder may prove to share structural similarity with that constantly present in erythrocytes and proximal renal tubule.

Structural changes of the cytoskeleton of the frog urinary bladder granular cells were examined during low and high water permeability of the epithelium. A tight connection of the microfilaments and microtubules with vacuolar membranes and a great increase in the number of microtubules during a stimulated water flow was shown using different electron microscopic methods. Two populations of microtubules were discovered, respectively, with different diameter and different rate of stability. It is suggested that the thicker microtubules while interacting with actin microfilaments through associated electron dense globules may fulfil the transport function in the cell.

Ultrastructural changes of Golgi apparatus of frog urinary granular cells at antidiuretic hormone (ADH) stimulation of water transport were studied. During a short-time ADH action (5 min) the fragmentation of the complex on single dictyosomes and dilution of certain cisternae is discovered. A conclusion is made that the granular cell giant vacuoles may originate from the Golgi cisternae. It is suggested that the microtubules may be involved in the translocation of dictyosomes and migration of formed vacuoles. The quantity of microtubules increases during ADH action very significantly. Moreover, the involvement of the Golgi apparatus is shown in the maintenance of the cell membrane balance due to budding of tubular structures from transcisternae and shuttling between luminal and vacuolar membranes.

The polyene antibiotic filipin has been used to characterize the cholesterol distribution in the membranes of resting and ADH-stimulated frog urinary bladder in freeze-fracture replicas. In general, the intracellular membranes takes up filipin only insignificantly. An exception is the cholesterol rich granule membrane. Both density and polarity of filipin-induced deformations were evaluated, and the asymmetry in membrane cholesterol was analysed. Upon ADH-stimulation of water flow both density and polarity of filipin-induced deformations altered differently in apical and basolateral regions of the plasma membrane. This difference is presumably due to the stretching of the basolateral membrane as a result of swelling, on the one hand, and to incorporation of aggregate containing membranes into the apical membrane, on the other one. The results obtained may suggest that the appearance of ADH-induced intramembranous particle aggregates in the apical membrane be accompanied with a relative cholesterol decrease in this apical membrane.

1. Water and isotope fluxes were measured by incubating urinary bladders of foetal pigs and sheep in vitro in the presence and absence of a concentration and osmotic gradient. The structure of the urinary bladder of foetal pigs under various conditions was studied by electron microscopy. Its ultrastructure was found to be closely similar to that of foetal sheep. 2. Antidiuretic hormone (ADH) (0-2 U. ml-1) enhanced the enlargement of intercellular spaces caused by dilute mucosal medium in pig bladders; prolactin (1 u. ml-1) prevented osmotic dilatation of the intercellular spaces. 3. The hydraulic conductivity, Lp, was estimated to be 0-5 X 10 (-7) cm.s-1atm-1 in sheep and pigs at about 100 days gestation; the ratio of osomotic to diffusional permeability, (LpRT/VW)/PD, in the presence and absence of ADH, was 2-1 and 1-6 respectively. These are similar to the values found in fish gills. 4. Prolactin reduced bulk flow of water to zero in seven out of eight bladders investigated. Incubation with ADH or vasotocin (55 mu. ml-1) in the presence of prolactin restored water flux to 22% and 45% of control values respectively. 5. There was no significant net flux of sodium from mucosa to serosa in pig bladder except in the presence of prolactin. No net flux of sodium occurred from mucosal to serosal side of pig or sheep bladders in the presence of an adverse electrochemical gradient, although in sheep the permeability ratio was significantly greater than one. 6. The diffusional flux ratio for water remained unity under all conditions; vasotocin increased unidirectional fluxes and prolactin reduced them. The flux ratios were unaffected by the direction of bulk fluid flow, probably because diffusion was rapid compared to flow: the ratio of diffusional flux to volume flow was between 11 and 18.