Ringers Solution is composed of concentrations of Nacl, KCl, CaCl, and Na2CO3 in purified

water that occur in extracellular body fluids. Its purpose is to prolong the survival time of the
toad skin, as well as provide the ions needed in the solution to demonstrate active transport
(The Editors of Encyclopdia Britannica, 2009).

According to the Two-membrane Theory of Koefoed-Johnson and Ussing,

the frog or toad skin pumps sodium ions internally. The surface of the skin
facing the external environment is highly permeable to Na+, while the surface
facing the internal is highly permeable to K+. The internal side has Na/K
activated ATPase, a NaK pump, and functions similarly as most cells, unlike
the external membrane which controls its Na+ permeability to regulate
transport (Ling, 1984). When the skin is everted, the internal side, which
contains a high concentration of Na/K pumps, would face the external
environment. Thus, the skin was everted in order to be able to observe active
transport through the NaK pumps, rather than to observe the uptake of
sodium ions.

According to Rhoades (2012), multilayer stratified epithelial tissue composes

the frog or toad epidermis. Solute transport across the tissue involves
transcellular and paracellular pathways. Epithelial sodium channels on the
external side of the skin allow the entry of sodium ions into the cytoplasm,
where the Na/K ATPase actively pumps it into the intercellular spaces. That is
the transcellular pathway. The paracellular pathway then occurs by the
transport of Na/Cl ions by concentration gradients and solvent drags through
the tight junction areas between the cells (Guo, et al., 2003). That is how Na+
is transported from the environment to the epithelial cells then to the cells of
the adjacent tissue layer.

Cyanide affects active transport by inhibiting the redox reactions of the

electron transport chain. Cyanide binds to the Fe3+ in the Heme groups in
cytochrome Oxidase, thus preventing ATP production from the electron
transport chain. Without ATP, active transport fails to occur (Shier, 2017).

Guo, P., Hillyard, S.D., Fu, B. M. (2003). A two-barrier compartment model for volume flow
across amphibian skin. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 285.
Ling, G. (1984). In Search of the Physical Basis of Life. Plenum Press, New York.
Rhoades, B.K. (2012). Animal Physiology Laboratory Manual. Wesleyan College. Accessed on
February 23, 2017 from
http://pierce.wesleyancollege.edu/faculty/brhoades/courses/bio340manual/lab3.html

Shier (2017). Hole's Human Anatomy & Physiology 12th edition. McGraw-Hill Global
Education Holdings, LLC

(2009). Ringers Solution. Retrieved on

The Editors of Encyclopdia Britannica
February 23, 2017 from https://www.britannica.com/science/Ringers-solution.