cecropia adenopus/potassium

Exchange between potassium of the isolated midgut of the American silkworm Hyalophora cecropia and the bathing solutions has been determined by different authors, but with contradictory results. Therefore the experiments were repeated with another technique and the exchange determined for varying

1. The conventional, two-electrode method for measuring potential difference across an epithelium is subject to error due to potential gradients caused by current flow in the bathing medium. Mathematical analysis shows that the error in measuring short-circuit current is proportional to the

1. The midgut contains a 'pool' which must mix with tracer added to the blood-side, before the transported potassium reaches a steady specific activity. The size and mixing time of the pool can be deduced from the time-course of rate of appearance of tracer on the lumen-side, the tracer influx. The

1. Tracer influx kinetics have been analysed theoretically to determine the size of the transport pool with no assumptions regarding the transport pathway. 2. For a calculation of the size of the transport pool to be made, the following six conditions are required by the theory: tracer steady state

The possible diuretic effect of the leaf extract of Cecropia obtusifolia, Bertol; used in Costa Rican traditional medicine, was tested on five Sprague Dawley rats in individual metabolic cages. During the control week, distilled water was administered with an intragastric cannula. During the

1. The net flux of 45Ca from lumen to blood side across the isolated and short-circuited Cecropia midgut was 1-9 +/- 0-2 muequiv. cm-2h-1 in 8 mM Ca and the flux ratio was as high as 56 to 1. 2. The calcium influx was depressed by anoxia; 73% after 30 min. 3. The kinetics of Ca transport were