Changes in major intracellular osmolytes in L-929 cells following rapid and slow application of hyperosmotic media

Cultured L-929 cells respond to media-made hyperosmotic (600 mOsmol/kg H2O) by addition of NaCl, sorbitol or proline by adjusting successively their intracellular level in different osmolytes: Na+, K+, amino acids and sorbitol. In the NaCl medium, Na+ and K+ are first to increase. Their concentration is then down-regulated while they are replaced by less disrupting osmolytes: amino acids and sorbitol. The amino-acid level is also adjusted with respect to the increase in sorbitol which starts only after 24 h, depending on the induction of aldose reductase. A similar evolution in the amount of these osmolytes is observed, with different time scales and amplitudes, depending on whether the osmotic shocks are applied abruptly or slowly, in a more physiological way. The interplay between the osmolytes is also different depending on their availability in the external medium. Such complex evolutions indicate that a cascade of interacting signals must be considered to account for the overall regulation process. It can hardly be fitted into a model implicating a single primary signalling event (early increase in ions or decrease in cell volume) as usually postulated. Also, the volume up-regulation is not significantly different in the different conditions, showing that it is not primarily dependent on the adjustment of the intracellular osmolarity which is reached immediately upon cell shrinkage and is maintained all over, independently of the availability and changes in nature of the osmolytes.