Dr. Ahearn plans to continue studies on the mechanisms of solute transport by crustacean gastrointestinal and renal epithelial cells. The two major goals are: 1) Continue state-of-the-art membrane vesicle studies designed to elucidate the mechanisms of ion, amino acid, sugar, lipid, peptide, vitamin, and organic acid transport across isolated and purified brush border and basolateral membranes of crustacean hepatopancreatic and antennal gland epithelia; and 2) Establish preliminary data showing the feasibility of growing functional epithelial cell monolayers from crustacean hepatopancreas and/or antennal gland that can be used in transepithelial transport studies of inorganic and organic solutes. The combination of these two approaches to epithelial biology should lead to significant information about the mechanisms of nutrient and ion absorption and organic acid secretion in two major organ systems of this economically- important group of invertebrates.
