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W F Boron

Publications and source records attributed to W F Boron.

115 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1976

Intracellular pH transients in squid giant axons caused by CO2, NH3, and metabolic inhibitors.

The intracellular pH (pHi) of squid giant axons has been measured using glass pH microelectrodes. Resting pHi in artificial seawater (ASW) (pH 7.6-7.8) at 23 degrees C was 7.32 +/- 0.02 (7.28 if corrected for liquid junction potential). Exposure of the axon to 5% CO2 at constant external pH caused a sharp decrease in pHi, while the subsequent removal of the gas caused pHi to overshoot its initial value. If the exposure to CO2 was prolonged, two additional effects were noted: (a) during the exposure, the rapid initial fall in pHi was followed by a slow rise, and (b) after the exposure, the overshoot was greatly exaggerated. Application of external NH4Cl caused pHi to rise sharply; return to normal ASW caused pHi to return to a value below its initial one. If the exposure to NH4Cl was prolonged, two additional effects were noted: (a) during the exposure, the rapid initial rise in pHi was followed by a slow fall, and (b) after the exposure, the undershoot was greatly exaggerated. Exposure to several weak acid metabolic inhibitors caused a fall in pHi whose reversibility depended upon length of exposure. Inverting the electrochemical gradient for H+ with 100 mM K-ASW had no effect on pHi changes resulting from short-term exposure to azide. A mathematical model explains the pHi changes caused by NH4Cl on the basis of passive movements of both NH3 and NH4+. The simultaneous passive movements of CO2 and HCO3-cannot explain the results of the CO2 experiments; these data require the postulation of an active proton extrusion and/or sequestration mechanism.

Ammonium Chloride↗
PubMed1976

Comparison of microelectrode, DMO, and methylamine methods for measuring intracellular pH.

The intracellular pH (pHi) of giant barnacle muscle fibers was measured with glass microelectrodes and also calculated from the distribution of 5,5-dimethyl-2,4-oxazolidinedione (DMO) and methylamine (MA). Simultaneously applying any two of these methods to muscle fibers of the same barnacle, we found the pH measured with an intracellular electrode (pH-Elec) to be about 0.06 higher than the DMO-derived pH (pH-DMO), and pH-DMO to be about 0.10 higher than the MA-derived pH (p-ma). in studies on the pHi of squid giant axons, we found that pH-Elec (7.35) and pH-DMO (7.36) were not significantly different. In the barnacle experiments, DMO required about 30 min to reach a steady-state distribution, while MA required more than 5 h. The deviations of pH-DMO and pH-MA from pH-Elec for the barnacle can be explained by a) an error in the assumed intracellular pKa' of DMO or MA, b) membrane permeability to the ionic form of DMO or MA, or c) intracellular compartmentalization. Included is a detailed study of the apparent dissociation constant of DMO as affected by temperature, and ionic strength and composition.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Expression of a mammalian Na-H exchanger in muscle fibres of the giant barnacle.

It is now well established that the internal pH (pHi) of mammalian cells is regulated by means of a plasma membrane transport system that exchanges extracellular Na+ for intracellular H+ (ref. 1). Furthermore, modulation of the activity of the Na-H exchanger seems to have a crucial role in the action of various mitogens and growth factors. The possibility that such a mammalian Na-H exchanger might be efficiently expressed in a giant invertebrate cell was suggested to us by recent results of Barnard and Miledi and colleagues, who demonstrated in frog oocytes the expression of various plasma membrane channels that presumably were encoded by the mammalian messenger RNA wih which the oocytes had been injected. We used muscle fibres of the giant barnacle, which normally have no demonstrable Na-H exchanger activity, and report here that, when injected with poly(A)+ RNA isolated from rabbit liver, the muscle fibres express a Na-H exchanger. No such expression is observed, however, when the injected material is pretreated with ribonuclease A. As hepatocytes are known to possess a Na-H exchanger, the most straightforward interpretation of our data is that a mammalian Na-H exchanger has been expressed in the muscle fibre of an invertebrate.

Animals↗