Ion transport in gills of the euryhaline fish Gillichthys mirabilis is facilitated by a phosphocreatine circuit.

The function of creatine kinase (CK) isozymes in energy metabolism and the short-term regulation of active ion transport in gills of the euryhaline teleost Gillichthys mirabilis was investigated. After a transfer of fish from regular seawater [36 parts/thousand (ppt)] to hypersaline water (60 ppt), the plasma osmolality increased significantly from 361.0 +/- 5.2 to 434.2 +/- 20.6 mosmol/kgH2O within 2 h and was regulated down to 391.8 +/- 11.3 mosmol/kgH2O within 12 h. Although the ATP concentration in the gill tissue remained unchanged, the creatine concentration increased significantly from 17.3 +/- 3.2 to 37.6 +/- 5.9 nmol/mg protein within 2 h after the salinity change. CK and Na(+)-K(+)-adenosinetriphosphatase-(Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase) activities were unchanged 48 h after transfer. Independent of salinity, the activities of CK were three to seven times those of the Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase, and the creatine concentration in the gill was at least one order of magnitude higher than the ATP concentration. The occurrence of muscle-type CK (CK-M), brain-type CK, and mitochondrial CK was demonstrated. CK-M was predominant in gills (59 +/- 7.1% of total CK activity). Evidence for a direct functional coupling between CK and Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase was obtained with permeabilized gill cells, by using the CK inhibitor iodoacetamide, which abolishes the competitive channeling of ADP from the external pyruvate kinase reaction to the endogeneous CK reaction in a coupled in situ Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase assay. Our results show the significance and the central regulatory role for energy metabolism and adaptive ionoregulation of a phosphocreatine-CK circuit in situations of high and fluctuating energy demands for euryhaline fishes.