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Biol Bull 167: 124-138. (August 1984)
© 1984 Marine Biological Laboratory
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IONIC CONTROL OF SETTLEMENT AND METAMORPHOSIS IN LARVAL HALIOTIS RUFESCENS (GASTROPODA)

ANDREA J. BALOUN 1 and DANIEL E. MORSE 1

1 Department of Biological Sciences and the Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106

An increase in the concentration of K+ in defined sea water medium is demonstrated to induce settlement and metamorphosis in larvae of the marine gastropod mollusc, Haliotis rufescens. A decrease in external K+ ion concentration can inhibit the larval response to ggr-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a stereochemically specific inducer of metamorphosis of H. rufescens. Stimulation of the metamorphic response by GABA or by increased K+ may depend on transmembrane movement of ions, since induction is sensitive to neuropharmacological blockers of ion conductance. Sulfonyl isothiocyanostilbene (SITS, an anion exchange blocker) inhibits the larval response to GABA, but does not affect induction by increased external potassium. In contrast, the larval response to potassium is inhibited by tetraethylammonium (TEA, a potassium channel blocker), while induction of metamorphosis by GABA is independent of the presence of TEA. Most manipulations of the concentrations of the other predominant cation components of sea water are not in themselves inductive or inhibitory. However, the actions of GABA and increased K+ as inducers are sensitive to changes in external Ca2+. Potassium may act by directly depolarizing excitable cells involved in the larval perception of inductive stimuli. Activation of metamorphosis by GABA may depend similarly on a depolarizing ion movement at GABA-sensitive cells. Depolarization by manipulation of the ionic environment may offer a general technique for inducing metamorphosis in various marine invertebrate larvae.

Submitted on January 9, 1984
Accepted on May 31, 1984




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