On the role of hydrogen ion and potassium ion in the active transport of sodium across the isolated frog skin

✍ Scribed by Fleming, Warren R.

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1957
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 1009 KB
• Volume: 49
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0095-9898
• DOI: 10.1002/jcp.1030490108

✦ Synopsis

NINE FIGURES

This paper deals with (1) the production of a hydrogen ion gradient across the isolated frog skin, (2) the relationship between the gradient and the active transport of sodium ion, and (3) the effect of potassium ion and aearation on the hydrogen ion gradient and the transport process.

It has been known for many years that the isolated frog skin is able to change the pH of the bathing solutions (NiiNa, '23 ; Gicklhorn, '33 ; Steinbach, '37 ; Ussing, '49a ; Huf and Wills, '51, '53 ; Levinsky and Sawyer, '53) but the significance of such changes is not known. Meyer and Bernfeld ('46) found that if the epidermal side of the skin was bathed in tap water, and the corium side with phosphate buffers of various pH, the changes of potential observed closely followed the behavior of a glass electrode, i.e., a change of about 55mv. for each pH unit. They suggested that the potential arose because the skin contained a membrane which was selectively permeable to hydrogen ion.

Ussing ('48, '49a) made use of the findings of Meyer and Bernfeld ('46)' suggesting that the active transport of sodium