Changes in membrane potential and membrane fluidity in Tetrahymena pyriformis in association with chemoreception of hydrophobic stimuli: fluorescence studies.

The fluorescence intensity of rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) and 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) in the presence of Tetrahymena pyriformis was measured to monitor changes in the membrane potential and in the gross structure of the surface membrane in response to chemical stimuli. So-called "odorants" for higher vertebrates, which are usually uncharged and hydrophobic compounds, were chosen as chemical stimuli for a model study of the olfactory response. The fluorescence intensity of Rh6G started to increase at the chemotactic thresholds of the stimuli, indicating that negative chemotaxis of T. pyriformis to the hydrophobic stimuli is induced by depolarization of the cell. The fluorescence intensity of DPH increased in close association with chemoreception of the hydrophobic stimuli. The increase in the fluorescence intensity was ascribed mainly to uptake of DPH, suggesting that gross structural changes of the surface membrane occur with the reception of hydrophobic stimuli. The membrane fluidity determined by fluorescence polarization of DPH increased in close association with the chemoreception of the hydrophobic stimuli. Inorganic salts such as NcCl, KCl, and CaCl2 did not change the DPH fluorescence intensity or the fluorescence polarization, although these stimuli induced depolarization and negative chemotaxis in T. pyriformis.