Freeze fracture of the gill epithelium of euryhaline teleost fish.
We briefly discuss the information one can obtain using freeze fracture. We used this technique to precisely identify the types of junctions that link the cells of the gill epithelium of euryhaline teleosts. In particular we demonstrate that seawater adaptation is characterized by the appearance of new apical tight junctions between chloride cells. Another particularity of these cells, the extensive network of tubules, extension of the basolateral plasma membrane, is shown to be made of repetitive units. We discuss the functional importance of the observations with respect to the adaptation of fish to different salinities.
D000818:Animals; D004848:Epithelium / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005399:Fishes / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005614:Freeze Fracturing; D005880:Gills / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron