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Science 27 February 1987:
Vol. 235. no. 4792, pp. 1068 - 1070
DOI: 10.1126/science.3823867
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Articles

Science, Vol 235, Issue 4792, 1068-1070
Copyright © 1987 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

Absence of significant cellular dilution during ADH-stimulated water reabsorption

K Strange and KR Spring

Water reabsorption across many "tight" urinary epithelia is driven by large transepithelial osmotic gradients and is controlled by antidiuretic hormone (ADH). Numerous investigators have concluded that ADH-induced water reabsorption causes large apparent increases in cell volume with concomitant cytoplasmic dilution. A central question in renal physiology has been how cellular homeostasis is maintained in tight urinary epithelia during antidiuresis. Previous direct measurements of cell membrane permeability to water and the present direct measurements of cell volume in collecting tubules of rabbit kidney cortex by quantitative light microscopy show that cell volume does not change significantly during transcellular water flow. Fluid transported across the epithelium accumulated in lateral and basal intercellular spaces; the effect was an increase in cell height and tubule wall thickness accompanied by maintenance of nearly constant cell volume. The stability of cell volume is a consequence of the relatively high water permeability of the blood-facing cell membrane.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Roles of basolateral solute uptake via NKCC1 and of myosin II in vasopressin-induced cell swelling in inner medullary collecting duct.
C.-L. Chou, M.-J. Yu, E. M. Kassai, R. G. Morris, J. D. Hoffert, S. M. Wall, and M. A. Knepper (2008)
Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 295, F192-F201
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