Antidiuretic hormone moves membranes.

This review focuses on events at the apical plasma membrane of toad urinary bladder and mammalian collecting duct as their permeability to water changes in response to antidiuretic hormone (ADH) and to its withdrawal. The major marker of the permeability change is observed in freeze-fracture electron microscopy of the apical plasma membrane and consists of a dramatic increase in membrane particle aggregates and, in toad bladder but not in collecting duct, in fused vesicles (aggrephores) that contain particle aggregates in their limiting membranes. Withdrawal of ADH is accompanied by endocytosis at the apical membrane, reflecting retrieval of water-permeable, particle aggregate-containing membrane. Covalent labeling of the external surface of the apical membrane of toad bladder identifies specific proteins that are present in the apical membrane only during the response to ADH. Proteins of the same molecular weights are also present in the retrieved membrane when ADH is withdrawn. Several controversial areas are considered, including the extent of cell swelling as water flows across the epithelium from dilute apical solution to isotonic basal solution, whether only principal cells or principal cells and intercalated cells participate in the water permeability response of the collecting duct, the role of the cytoskeleton in the water permeability response, and the proposed second water permeability barrier that is affected by ADH, but not by adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate.