Osmoregulation of the grass shrimp Palaemonetes pugio exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). I. Effecton chloride and osmotic concentrations and chloride-and water-exchange kinetics

Grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, were capable of hypo- and hyper-osmotic regulation of body fluids. Hemolymph chloride and osmotic concentrations were maintained at relatively stable levels over a wide salinity range. Following an abrupt transfer from intermediate (14 and 17) to high (31 and 35) or low (1 and 2) salinities, hemolymph chloride levels exhibited initial overshoot and undershoot, respectively, of new steady-state levels. Osmotic concentrations exhibited an initial undershoot at low, but not overshoot at high salinity. Chloride space in salinity-acclimated shrimp was relatively stable at salinities from 1 to 35. Changes in chloride space following salinity transfer paralleled those of hemolymph chloride levels, and are discussed in the light of alterations in intracellular sodium concentrations reported earlier. Rate constants for chloride turnover indicated independent exchanges of sodium and chloride ions. Water-turnover measurements showed that permeability of P. pugio was greatest at the isosmotic salinity (17) and reduced at salinities which were associated with active osmoregulation. Exposure to sublethal and 96-h LC₅₀ levels of Aroclor^® 1254 did not seriously alter hemolymph chloride and osmotic concentrations, chloride space or chloride-exchange kinetics in adult shrimp. Disruption of hemolymph chloride regulation in juvenile shrimp was associated with large mortalities not observed in adults. Shrimp exposed to Aroclor 1254 at 17 S exhibited reduced water permeability similar to levels previously observed in controls at high and low salinities in response to osmotic or ionic gradients. Exposure to PCBs did not result in further reduction in permeability at the latter salinities.