Effect of salt acclimation on digitalis-like compounds in the toad

David Lichtstein*, Irith Gati, Tamar Babila, Eitan Haver, Uri Katz

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

Digitalis-like compounds (DLC) were shown to be a normal constituent of the skin and plasma of toads. In order to assess the possible physiological role of these compounds in the toad, their levels were determined in the brain, plasma and skin following acclimation in different NaCl solutions. We demonstrate that an increase in salt concentrations in the animal medium from 0 to 1.2% decreased the levels of DLC in the brain by 50% without altering significantly its levels in the plasma and skin. An increase in medium salt concentration to 1.5% resulted in a 50% increase of DLC levels in the skin without changing its levels in the plasma or brain. These results suggest that skin and brain DLC may participate in the long-term salt and water homeostasis in the toad, while the plasma compound either participates in the short-term regulations of salt and water homeostasis or have some other, unknown, function.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)65-68
Number of pages4
JournalBiochimica et Biophysica Acta - General Subjects
Volume1073
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 23 Jan 1991

Keywords

  • Amphibian skin
  • ATPase, Na, K-
  • Digitalis-like compound
  • Hypertension

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