Studies on semipermeability and electrical characteristics in membranes of Chara cells fixed with glutaraldehyde

Abstract

When internodal cells of Chara corallina were incubated in a solution containing 1% glutaraldehyde, an increase in intracellular osmolality was observed, and this indicates that the plasma membrane maintained its semipermeability. The effect on the membrane potential was studied. Although the active component generated by the electrogenic proton pump was lost, the passive component (more negative than -100 mV) was maintained during glutaraldehyde treatment for more than 1-2 h. The membrane resistance increased significantly. It was found that the tonoplasts also maintained their semipermeability during glutaraldehyde treatment.

Unique cellular effect of the herbicide bromoxynil revealed by electrophysiological studies using characean cells

“…2). This increase in R m upon inhibition of the electrogenic proton pump has been reported in Characeae (Mimura et al 1982;Kishimoto et al 1984Kishimoto et al , 1985Shimmen 2004). We previously reported that BX induced a decrease in the cytosolar pH of pollen tubes incubated in an acidic external medium (Morimoto and Shimmen 2008).…”