Structural simplicity of the zonula occludens in the electrolyte secreting epithelium of the avian salt gland

Abstract

The structure of the zonula occludens in the secretory epithelium of the salt gland of the domestic duck was determined by thin section and freeze-fracture electron microscopy. These glands secrete an effluent with a NaCl concentration four times that of plasma, and thus maintain a steep ionic gradient across their secretory epithelium. Freeze-fracture replicas from salt stressed ducks demonstrate that the zonula occludens is surprisingly shallow in depth (20-25 nm) and generally consists of two parallel junctional strands which are juxaposed along their entire length. In addition to the simplicity of the junction separating mucosal and serosal compartments, the ratio of junctional length to apical surface area is large since luminal surfaces of secretory cells are narrow and intermesh with one another. The zonula occludens in nonsecreting fresh water-adapted birds is similar to the salt stressed group except that two sets of double strand junctions are seen in addition to junctions consisting of a single set. Based on previous ultrastructural, cytochemical and physiological studies in salt glands and in other epithelia, a model for salt secretion was suggested in which intercellular space Na+, generated by basolateral ouabain-sensitive Na+ pumps, reaches the lumen via a paracellular route (Ernst & Mills, 1977, J. Cell Biol. 75:74). The simplicity of the morphological appearance of the zonula occludens in the salt gland, which resembles that described for several epithelia known to be leaky to ions, is consistent with this hypothesis.