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Journal of Experimental Biology 90,43-63 (1981)
Published by Company of Biologists 1981

Studies on Water in Barnacle Muscle Fibres II. Role of ions and Organic Solutes in Swelling of Chemically-skinned Fibres

M. E. CLARK ¹, J. A. M. HINKE ², and M. E. TODD ³

¹ Department of Anatomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.; Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182.
² Department of Anatomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.; Department of Anatomy, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario KiN 9A9.
³ Department of Anatomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.

Single muscle fibres from the giant barnacle, Balanus nubilis, were chemically skinned (2% Tween 20), then equilibrated for 40 h in salt solutions ranging in ionic strength from 0·025 to 0·6M at pH 7·0. The water content of the fibres and the net charge on the myofilaments increased with increasing salt concentration. Cation accumulation in the fibres was about equal to anion exclusion at all salt concentrations. When an organic solute (trimethylamine oxide, glycine, alanine, serine, proline, or glycerol) in the concentration range from 0·1 to 0·6 M was added to the salt solution, cation accumulation increased and water content decreased. Myofilament architecture was disrupted when the fibres were equilibrated in high salt (> 0·4 M) solutions and preserved when 0·5 M-triethylamine oxide was also added. The results are consistent with the view that organic solutes enhance the association between the fixed charge sites and their counterions. This hypothesis is examined quantitatively using the Oosawa relationship between the volume and the counterion association for cylindrical polyelectrolytes. The results illustrate that organic solutes can influence fibre volume in a way other than through osmo-regulation.

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