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Physiological (organismal), biochemical, and molecular biological contributions to the knowledge of the osmoregulatory plasticity of palaemonid freshwater shrimps has provided a fairly complete model of transporter localization in their branchial epithelium. Direct immunological demonstration of the main enzymes in the gill epithelia of adult palaemonids is, however, still incipient. The diadromous freshwater shrimp Macrobrachium acanthurus was exposed to increased salinity (25‰ for 24 hr), and its responses at the systemic level were evaluated through the assays of hemolymph osmolality and muscle hydration, and at cellular and subcellular levels through the activity and localization of the V-H(+) -ATPase, the Na(+) /K(+) -ATPase, and the carbonic anhydrase. Results showed an increase in hemolymph osmolality (629 ± 5.3 mOsm/kg H2 O) and a decrease in muscle hydration (73.8 ± 0.5%), comparing values after 24 hr in 25‰ with control shrimps in freshwater (respectively 409.5 ± 15.8 mOsm/kg H2 O and 77.5 ± 0.4%). V-H(+) -ATPase was localized in pillar cells, whereas Na(+) /K(+) -ATPase in the septal cells. The main novelty of this study was that carbonic anhydrase was localized in the whole branchial tissue, in pillar and septal cells. Exposure to high salinity for 24 hr led to no detectable changes in their localization or in vitro activity. Immunolocalization data corroborated the literature and current models of palaemonid gill ion transport. The absence of changes reinforces the need for the constant expression of these enzymes to account for the euryhalinity of these shrimps.

Some Macrobrachium shrimps (Caridea, Palaemonidae) are diadromous; freshwater adults are truly euryhaline, while larvae need saline water for development. Branchial Na/K-ATPase (NKA) and carbonic anhydrase (CA) are involved in NaCl absorption in freshwater. This study aimed at verifying the time course of the osmoregulatory response of adult Macrobrachium acanthurus to high salinity brackish water (20‰), from the first 30min to 5days. The goal was to detect possible transition from hyper- to hyporegulation, the putative involvement of branchial NKA and CA, or the induction of muscular HSP70 expression. Hemolymph osmotic and ionic concentrations remained relatively stable and close to control levels until ~9h of exposure, but later increased consistently (~50%). A fast reduction in NKA activity (3-6h) was observed; these shrimps seem to shut off salt absorption already in the first hours. Later on, especially after 24h, hemolymph concentrations rise but HSP70 expression is not induced, possibly because constitutive levels are already sufficient to prevent protein damage. Time-dependent response mechanisms effective in high salinity brackish water, resulting in salt loading avoidance and suggestive of hyporegulation should be further investigated in decapods that evolutionary invaded freshwater.

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