Further observations of aldosterone response in barnacle muscle fibers

Abstract

Work with single muscle fibers from the barnacle Balanus nubilus has revealed that these fibers can be rendered sensitive to external application of aldosterone by preexposing the barnacle in vivo to the steroid for 16 h. Experiments investigating the dose-response relationship, glucocorticoid sensitivity of the preparation, and the role of the mitochondria in the aldosterone response in this preparation are presented. It is demonstrated that saturation kinetics may be seen in the dose-response curve if care is taken to isolate only fibers from animals that are in midmolt cycle. Data is presented that demonstrated a specific mineralocorticoid response to aldosterone in this preparation rather than a combined mineralocorticoid-glucocorticoid response, as has been demonstrated in other preparations. Experiments investigating the role of the mitochondrial inhibitors and substrates suggest that aldosterone modulates Na efflux in barnacle muscle fibers by altering mitochondrial function, presumably at the level of succinic hydrogenase.