Ion transport processes of crustacean epithelial cells

Epithelial cells of the gut, antennal glands, integument, and gills of crustaceans regulate the movements of ions into and across these structures and thereby in¯uence the concentrations of ions in the hemolymph. Speci®c transport proteins serving cations and anions are found on apical and basolateral cell membranes of epithelia in these tissues. In recent years, a con-siderable research effort has been directed at elucidating their physiological and molecular properties and relating these char-acteristics to the overall biology of the organisms. Efforts to describe ion transport in crustaceans have focused on the membrane transfer properties of Na1/H1 exchange, calcium uptake as it relates to the molt cycle, heavy metal sequestration and detoxi®cation, and anion movements into and across ep-ithelial cells. In addition to de®ning the properties and mech