Confocal laser scanning and electron microscopical studies on osmoregulatory epithelia in the branchial cavity of the lobster homarus gammarus

The adult lobster Homarus gammarus is a weak hyper-regulator at low salinity. The objective of this study was to locate the ion-transporting tissues in the branchial chamber of this species, using electron microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy with a fluorescent vital stain for mitochondria, DASPMI, which is widely used to locate mitochondria-rich cells in ion-transporting epithelia of fish. A thick mitochondria-rich epithelium is present on the inner side of the branchiostegite and over the entire surface of the epipodites. Ultrastructural observations confirm that this tissue has features typical of an ion-transporting epithelium. When the lobster is transferred to low salinity, these epithelia undergo marked ultrastructural changes, such as an increase in thickness related to the development of basolateral infoldings, the appearance of numerous vesicles and an increase in height of the apical microvilli. In the gills, the branchial filaments are lined by a thin and poorly differentiated epithelium, containing numerous mitochondria; no significant ultrastructural changes were observed in the gills of animals acclimated to low salinity. In summary, in H. gammarus, no evidence of osmoregulatory structures was found in the gills. Differentiated ion-transporting epithelia are present in the branchial cavity, on the inner side of the branchiostegite and on the epipodites; these organs are probably involved in osmoregulation.