QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by PELSTER, B. Articles by SCHEID, P. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by PELSTER, B. Articles by SCHEID, P.

Journal of Experimental Biology 144,495-506 (1989)
Published by Company of Biologists 1989

Metabolism of the Perfused Swtmbladder of the European EEL: Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, Glucose and Lactate Balance

B. PELSTER ¹, H. KOBAYASHI ¹, and P. SCHEID ¹

¹ Institut für Physiologie, Ruhr Universität Bochum, FRG

We have measured the metabolic activity in the vascularly isolated, salineperfused swimbladder of the eel (Anguilla anguilla) in order to investigate the pathways for CO₂ formation in the gas gland tissue. Concentrations of O₂, CO₂, glucose and lactate were measured in the arterial inflow and venous outflow of the swimbladder, and metabolic rates were calculated by the direct Fick principle.

1. Total CO₂ production, averaging 55.8nmol min^-1, was about 4.6 times the O₂ consumption (mean 12.0nmol min^-1). This suggests that only about 22% of the CO₂ is formed by aerobic glucose metabolism.

2. CO₂ formation from HCO₃^- or CO₂ washout does not appear to be significant in our experiments with steady perfusion of a saline containing a low level of HCO₃^-.

3. The ratio of lactate production to glucose uptake averaged 1.2, indicating that only 60% of the glucose is converted to lactate. Since only 1-2% of the glucose was found to be oxidized (2 nmol min^-1), the extra glucose appears to be anoxidatively metabolized to CO₂.

4. The anoxidative CO₂ formation appears to be of functional importance for producing the high gas partial pressures of both CO₂ and O₂ which are required for secretion of these gases into the swimbladder.

Key words: fish, gas secretion, metabolism, swimbladder

Accepted on February 7, 1989

This article has been cited by other articles:

				W. Waser and N. Heisler Oxygen delivery to the fish eye: Root effect as crucial factor for elevated retinal PO2 J. Exp. Biol., November 1, 2005; 208(21): 4035 - 4047. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Prem and B. Pelster Swimbladder gas gland cells cultured on permeable supports regain their characteristic polarity J. Exp. Biol., January 12, 2001; 204(23): 4023 - 4029. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]