Perfusion-secretion relationships in the isolated elasmobranch rectal gland.

Perfusion and sodium secretion parameters were measured in the isolated rectal gland of Scyliorhinus canicula L. perfused at in vivo pressures, and the effect of stimulation of secretory activity by cyclic AMP and theophylline on these parameters was determined. Stimulation resulted in large increases in secretion flow rate, percentage extraction of sodium from the perfusing fluid, and arteriovenous sodium concentration difference, but did not affect perfusion flow rate or the sodium concentration of the secreted fluid. Reduction of perfusion flow rate to values below 65% of the control level, achieved by reducing perfusion pressure, produced a marked decline in sodium secretion--a process accompanied by increases in the percentage extraction of sodium and arteriovenous concentration difference of sodium, but again without any change in the sodium concentration of the secreted fluid. The in vivo consequences of these findings are discussed with reference to related findings for the avian nasal salt gland. The normal rate of secretion, its sodium concentration, and the nature of the dependence of secretion rate on perfusion flow below certain levels, were essentially unaffected by a reduction in the availability of oxygen to the gland by approximately 80%. It is concluded that the observed relationship between perfusion flow and sodium secretion rate in the stimulated gland is not related to oxygen availability, and hence that the primary underlying function of the synchronized secretion-related vasodilation seen in the gland is not to increase the supply of oxygen to the stimulated secretory tissue. We discuss possible reasons why this erroneous conclusion has been reached by other workers.