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Partial characterization and response under hyperregulating conditions of Na+-K+ ATPase and levamisole-sensitive alkaline phosphatase activities in chela muscle of the euryhaline crab Cyrtograpsus angulatus
Silvina Andrea Pinoni and Alejandra Antonia López Mañanes

The occurrence, characteristics and response to changes in environmental salinity of Na+-K+ ATPase and levamisole-sensitive alkaline phosphatase (AP) activities were studied in chela muscle of the euryhaline crab Cyrtograpsus angulatus. Chela muscle exhibited an Na+-K+ ATPase activity which was strongly dependent on ATP concentration, pH and temperature of the reaction mixture. Maximal activity was found at 1 mM ATP, 30-37°C and pH 7.4. Levamisole-sensitive AP activity was characterised at physiological pH 7.4 and at pH 8.0. I50 for levamisole-sensitive AP activity was 8.8 mM and 8.0 mM at pH 7.4 and 8.0, respectively. At both pH levels, levamisole-sensitive AP activity exhibited Michaelis-Menten kinetics (Km=3.451 mM and 6.906 mM at pH 7.4 and 8.0, respectively). Levamisole-sensitive AP activities were strongly affected by temperature, exhibiting a peak at 37ºC. In crabs acclimated to low salinity (10; hyperegulating conditions), Na+-K+ ATPase activity and levamisole-sensitive AP activity at the physiological pH were higher than in 35 psu (osmoconforming conditions). The response to low salinity suggests that both activities could be components of muscle regulatory mechanisms at the biochemical level secondary to hyperegulation of C. angulatus. The study of these activities under hyperegulating conditions contributes to a better understanding of the complexity of biochemical mechanisms underlying the adaptive process of euryhaline crabs.

Keywords: alkaline phosphatase, Na+-K+ ATPase, crabs, Cyrtograpsus angulatus, levamisole, muscle.
Contents of this volume Sci. Mar. 72(1) : 15-24 Back PDF
 
 
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