The volume and composition of fluid on the surface of the alveoli can affect alveolar ventilation, gas diffusion, and macrophage function. The passive permeability and active processes of the alveolar epithelial lining play a role in regulating surface fluid and are a potential site of damage by airborne chemicals. Like other epithelial barriers, the alveolar lining is permeable to lipophilic s...

The objective of toxicological study of a target organ, such as the testis, is to elucidate the qualitative and quantitative toxic effects of a chemical on that organ. The ultimate objective is to assess the toxic effects of a chemical in laboratory animals and extrapolate the pertinent experimental data to man. To accomplish these objectives, one must consider the main factors which may influe...

Examination of the synovial fluid should be a routine procedure in the evaluation of arthritic conditions, as it can provide valuable information in addition to that gained by clinical and radiologic examination. Conventional analysis will not provide a specific diagnosis; however, it does give an indication of the degree of synovitis and metabolic derangement within the joint. It is more speci...

The concentration of osmotically active solutes in the cell wall free space of young stem tissues was studied using a variety of extraction methods. When the intercellular air spaces of etiolated pea (Pisum sativum L.) internodes were perfused with distilled H(2)O, the resulting solution contained a solute concentration of about 70 milliosmoles per kilogram. A second procedure involving vacuum ...

Red blood cells from neonatal calves, but not from adult cows, rapidly hemolyze in buffered 300 mM solutions of a variety of nonelectrolytes and amino acids. Of these compounds, sucrose is chosen to elucidate the mechanism by which this preferential hemolysis takes place. As in other mammalian red cells, both calf and cow cells are found to be impermeable to sucrose and, in an isosmolar sucrose...

Using the methods described in the preceding paper (Levine et al., 1984) for measuring the magnitude of the water-permeable barriers in series with the luminal membrane, we correct measured values of Pd(w) in bladders stimulated with low doses of antidiuretic hormone (ADH) or 8-bromo cyclic AMP to obtain their true values in the luminal membrane. Simultaneously, we also determine Pf. We thus ar...

The electrical properties of renal epithelia have been determined principally by micropuncture studies of neplhron segments located at the surface of the kidney. Deeper segments, owing to their inaccessibility to micropuncture cannot be studied directly, and consequently, their contribution to the ultimate formation of urine has been assessed by indirect methods. The introduction of the isolate...

Bilayer asymmetry in the apical membrane may be important to the barrier function exhibited by epithelia in the stomach, kidney, and bladder. Previously, we showed that reduced fluidity of a single bilayer leaflet reduced water permeability of the bilayer, and in this study we examine the effect of bilayer asymmetry on permeation of nonelectrolytes, gases, and protons. Bilayer asymmetry was ind...