Relationship between net 45calcium influx across a perfused isolated eel gill and the development of post-stanniectomy hypercalcemia.

The net 45calcium influx was measured in perfused isolated individual hemibranchs taken from Anguilla rostrata L. at various intervals following the surgical removal of the Corpuscles of Stannius. Total plasma calcium concentrations were recorded at the same time. A relationship between the development of post-stanniectomy hypercalcemia and the net rate of 45calcium uptake in the isolated gills is suggested. The net influx of 45calcium increased rapidly during the first week, peaked at two weeks and dropped back to control levels at three weeks. Plasma calcium levels followed the same trend over the first two weeks but continued to rise through the third week before dropping slightly during the fourth week. We conclude that the corpuscles of Stannius play some role in controlling the branchial uptake of calcium and that the gills are of primary importance in the appearance of post-stanniectomy hypercalcemia.