The onset and offset of the hydrosmotic response in frog epithelia.

The onset and offset of the hydrosmotic responses elicited by different agonists in frog urinary bladder, frog skin and isolated frog skin epithelium were studied and compared. The removal of the frog skin supporting layers accelerated the onset of the reactions to oxytocin and 8-bromo-cyclic AMP (8-Br-cAMP), which, however, remained slower than the onset in the urinary bladder. The offset of these actions was not affected by corion removal and was also slower than in the bladder. A marked asymmetry between onset and offset of the hydrosmotic response was observed when the isolated skin epithelium was stimulated with 8-Br-cAMP. The results show that the increases in water permeability elicited by oxytocin and cyclic-AMP derivatives in frog skin and frog urinary bladder, although attributable to the same general mechanisms, present different specific characteristics.