title: Characterization of urea transport in Bufo arenarum oocytes.
abstract: Xenopus laevis oocytes have been extensively used for expression cloning, structure/function relationships, and regulation analysis of transporter proteins. Urea transporters have been expressed in Xenopus oocytes and their properties have been described. In order to establish an alternative system in which urea transporters could be efficiently expressed and studied, we determined the urea transport properties of ovarian oocytes from Bufo arenarum, a toad species common in Argentina. Bufo oocytes presented a high urea permeability of 22.3 x 10(-6) cm/s, which was significantly inhibited by the incubation with phloretin. The urea uptake in these oocytes was also inhibited by mercurial reagents, and high-affinity urea analogues. The urea uptake was not sodium dependent. The activation energy was 3.2 Kcal/mol, suggesting that urea movement across membrane oocytes may be through a facilitated urea transporter. In contrast, Bufo oocytes showed a low permeability for mannitol and glycerol. From these results, we propose that one or several specific urea transporters are present in ovarian oocytes from Bufo arenarum. Therefore, these oocytes cannot be used in expression studies of foreign urea transporters. The importance of Bufo urea transporter is not known but could be implicated in osmotic regulation during the laying of eggs in water.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Fisiopatogenia, Departamento de Fisiologa, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, 1121 Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Silberstein
authors.forename: Elsa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zotta
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ripoche
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ibarra
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001118:Argentina; D002022:Bufo arenarum / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D049990:Membrane Transport Modulators; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D009865:Oocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D010539:Permeability / Q000187:drug effects; D010693:Phloretin / Q000494:pharmacology; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D013696:Temperature; D000096982:Urea Transporters
chemical_list: D049990:Membrane Transport Modulators; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D010693:Phloretin; D000096982:Urea Transporters