Abstract
STUDIES of fluid transport in epithelia have in general been limited to measurements of the composition of the transported fluid and the electrochemical gradients against which transport occurs1–3. We have now used electron-probe X-ray microanalysis to measure the intracellular ionic concentrations. The data show that Na, K and Cl are not uniformly distributed within the cells; that the basal lamina is not entirely a passive membrane open to small ions, and that, in the particular epithelium studied, the stimulation of secretion greatly increases the intracellular Na concentration. In addition, the results do not support the standing gradient theory of fluid secretion.
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GUPTA, B., HALL, T., MADDRELL, S. et al. Distribution of ions in a fluid-transporting epithelium determined by electron-probe X-ray microanalysis. Nature 264, 284–287 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/264284a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/264284a0
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