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Water Transport And The Functional Dynamics Of Aquaporins In Osmoregulatory Organs Of Fishes, Steffen S. Madsen, Morton B. Engelund, Christopher P. Cutler

Department of Biology Faculty Publications

Aquaporins play distinct roles for water transport in fishes as they do in mammals—both at the cellular, organ, and organismal levels. However, with over 32,000 known species of fishes inhabiting almost every aquatic environment, from tidal pools, small mountain streams, to the oceans and extreme salty desert lakes, the challenge to obtain consensus as well as specific knowledge about aquaporin physiology in these vertebrate clades is overwhelming. Because the integumental surfaces of these animals are in intimate contact with the surrounding milieu, passive water loss and uptake represent two of the major osmoregulatory challenges that need compensation. However, neither obligatory …