Asymmetry in osmotic response of frog gastric mucosa.

The effects of hyperosmolality of the serosal and mucosal bathing solutions on the transmucosal net water and ion fluxes were studied in frog gastric mucosa. Addition of 100 mosM glucose to the solution at the serosal surface produces a reversed mucosal-to-serosal net water flux of 7.1 +/- 1.4 microliter . cm-2 . h-1. When added to the abolished spontaneous net water flux, this results in an increment in the net water flux of -17.8 +/- 1.4 microliter . cm-2 . h-1. Addition of the same amount of glucose to the solution at the mucosal surface produces an increment in the serosal-to-mucosal net water flux of 3.7 +/- 1.1 microliter . cm-2 . h-1 when the solution at the opposite surface was kept in 220 mosmol/kg H2O. Simultaneous increments of both solutions of 320 to 420 and 420 to 520 mosM changes the osmotic serosal-to-mucosal induced fluxes to 1.9 +/- 0.9 and 3.4 +/- 1.6 microliter . cm-2 . h-1, respectively. The initial spontaneous net water fluxes measured in 220, 320, and 420 mosM solutions were 11.3 +/- 0.9, 6.9 +/- 1.6, and -1.5 +/- 1.5 microliter . cm-2 . h-1. It is proposed that the osmotic water flux is asymmetric, independent of the solutions tonicities, and not significantly affected by the sweep of solutes at the mucosal surface.