A study of the unidirectional fluxes of Na and Cl across the gills of the dogfish Scyliorhinus canicula (Chondrichthyes)

Abstract

The gills of the dogfish Scyliorhinus canicula are more permeable to Cl than to Na. In sea water, influx of Na and Cl exceeded the efflux of these ions. Under these conditions the fish were slightly electronegative, by about 2 mV, to the external solution. The net accumulation of Cl could be accounted for by diffusion along the observed electrochemical gradient byt the movement of Na into the fish was more consistent with an electrically neutral active Na transport mechanism (using the Ussing flux ratio criterion). When the external pH was was changed from 7–8 to 6–9, influxes of Na and Cl were depressed, while the effluxes were unaffected, and the fish became slightly less electronegative. In artificial solutions, in which the concentrations of Na and Cl were lowered and replaced with urea to maintain the total osmotic concentration, Na influx displayed saturation kinetics, while Na efflux increased with decreasing Na concentrations. Cl influx decreased linearly, while Cl efflux remained constant. The efflux of Cl could not be reconciled with a process of passive diffusion along any of the observed electrochemical gradients and thus could reflect the presence of an active transport mechanism.