Back to Search
Start Over
Transepithelial transport of P-glycoprotein substrate by the Malpighian tubules of the desert locust.
Transepithelial transport of P-glycoprotein substrate by the Malpighian tubules of the desert locust.
- Source :
-
PloS one [PLoS One] 2019 Oct 08; Vol. 14 (10), pp. e0223569. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 Oct 08 (Print Publication: 2019). - Publication Year :
- 2019
-
Abstract
- Extrusion of xenobiotics is essential for allowing animals to remove toxic substances present in their diet or generated as a biproduct of their metabolism. By transporting a wide range of potentially noxious substrates, active transporters of the ABC transporter family play an important role in xenobiotic extrusion. One such class of transporters are the multidrug resistance P-glycoprotein transporters. Here, we investigated P-glycoprotein transport in the Malpighian tubules of the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), a species whose diet includes plants that contain toxic secondary metabolites. To this end, we studied transporter physiology using a modified Ramsay assay in which ex vivo Malpighian tubules are incubated in different solutions containing the P-glycoprotein substrate dye rhodamine B in combination with different concentrations of the P-glycoprotein inhibitor verapamil. To determine the quantity of the P-glycoprotein substrate extruded we developed a simple and cheap method as an alternative to liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, radiolabelled alkaloids or confocal microscopy. Our evidence shows that: (i) the Malpighian tubules contain a P-glycoprotein; (ii) tubule surface area is positively correlated with the tubule fluid secretion rate; and (iii) as the fluid secretion rate increases so too does the net extrusion of rhodamine B. We were able to quantify precisely the relationships between the fluid secretion, surface area, and net extrusion. We interpret these results in the context of the life history and foraging ecology of desert locusts. We argue that P-glycoproteins contribute to the removal of xenobiotic substances from the haemolymph, thereby enabling gregarious desert locusts to maintain toxicity through the ingestion of toxic plants without suffering the deleterious effects themselves.<br />Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
- Subjects :
- Animals
Biological Transport
Body Fluids metabolism
Grasshoppers anatomy & histology
Ion Transport
Kinetics
Malpighian Tubules anatomy & histology
Xenobiotics metabolism
ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Member 1 metabolism
Grasshoppers physiology
Malpighian Tubules metabolism
Transendothelial and Transepithelial Migration
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1932-6203
- Volume :
- 14
- Issue :
- 10
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- PloS one
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 31593571
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223569