Mechanisms of acid–base regulation in seawater-acclimated green crabs (Carcinus maenas)

Abstract

The present study investigated acid–base regulatory mechanisms in seawater-acclimated green crabs (Carcinus maenas (L., 1758)). In full-strength seawater, green crabs are osmoconformers so that the majority of the observed responses were attributed to ion fluxes based on acid–base compensatory responses alone. Similar to observations in brackish-water-acclimated C. maenas, seawater-acclimated green crabs exposed to hypercapnia rapidly accumulated HCO3− in their hemolymph, compensating for the respiratory acidosis caused by excess hemolymph pCO2. A full recovery from the decreased hemolymph pH after 48 h, however, was not observed. Gill perfusion experiments on anterior gill No. 5 indicated the involvement of all investigated genes (i.e., bicarbonate transporters, V-(H+)-ATPase, Na+/K+-ATPase, K+-channels, Na+/H+-exchanger, and carbonic anhydrase) in the excretion of acid–base equivalents. The most significant effects were observed when targeting a potentially cytoplasmic and (or) basolaterally localized V-(H+)-ATPase, as well as potentially basolaterally localized bicarbonate transporter (likely a Na+/HCO3−-cotransporter). In both cases, H+ accumulated in the hemolymph and CO2 excretion across the gill epithelium was significantly reduced or even reversed when blocking bicarbonate transporters. Based on the findings in this study, a working model for acid–base regulatory mechanisms and their link to ammonia excretion in the gill epithelium of C. maenas has been developed.