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Biomedical subjects

A LEAF

Publications and source records attributed to A LEAF.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

The potential of water in mammalian tissues.

Melting point depression was used as an index of the water potential of rat tissues and serum. Organs removed from anesthetized rats were immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen and ground with mortar and pestle. Aliquots of the resulting frozen powder were suspended in chilled liquid silicone. While the suspension was vigorously stirred and warmed at a constant rate, the temperature of the melting mixture was measured. The melting curves of rat muscle, liver, heart, and brain were not significantly different from those of rat serum. The melting curve depression of whole kidney was greater than that of serum; this was demonstrated to be due to hypertonicity of the renal medullary area alone. It was demonstrated that autolysis will rapidly increase the depression of the melting curve of tissue. It is concluded that within the limits of the method used the melting point depression, and hence the water potential, of intracellular and extracellular fluids is the same.

Animals↗

Active sodium transport by the isolated toad bladder.

Studies were made of the active ion transport by the isolated urinary bladder of the European toad, Bufo bufo, and the large American toad, Bufo marinus. The urinary bladder of the toad is a thin membrane consisting of a single layer of mucosal cells supported on a small amount of connective tissue. The bladder exhibits a characteristic transmembrane potential with the serosal surface electrically positive to the mucosal surface. Active sodium transport was demonstrated by the isolated bladder under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Aerobically the mean net sodium flux across the bladder wall measured with radioactive isotopes, Na(24) and Na(22), just equalled the simultaneous short-circuit current in 42 periods each of 1 hour's duration. The electrical phenomenon exhibited by the isolated membrane was thus quantitatively accounted for solely by active transport of sodium. Anaerobically the mean net sodium flux was found to be slightly less than the short-circuit current in 21 periods of observation. The cause of this discrepancy is not known. The short-circuit current of the isolated toad bladder was regularly stimulated with pure oxytocin and vasopressin when applied to the serosal surface under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Adrenaline failed to stimulate the short-circuit current of the toad bladder.

Animals↗