Fungal Disease in Frogs causing electrolyte imbalance

The fungus now decimating frog populations around the world does its damage by impairing the animals' ability to absorb electrolytes through their skin. This discovery may eventually lead to treatments that make the disease less lethal.

Biologists now generally agree that the fungal disease known as chytridiomycosis is responsible for the worldwide die-off of frogs that has caused a conservation crisis in recent years. However, the fungus affects only the outer layers of the skin, leaving few clues to why it is so lethal.

But now Jamie Voyles of James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, and colleagues have an answer. In diseased frogs, the skin's ability to take up sodium and potassium ions from the water decreases by more than 50 per cent, they found. As a result, the concentration of these two ions in the frogs' blood fell by 20 and 50 per cent, respectively. This ion loss – similar to the hyponatraemia that a human athlete might experience from drinking too much water too fast – eventually leads to cardiac arrest and death.

The researchers found they could delay death by giving diseased frogs an oral electrolyte-replacement solution – a sort of froggy Gatorade. Fungal damage to the skin was too extensive for this to prevent death altogether, the study represents a first step toward finding an effective treatment for the disease, Voyles says.

NASA Sports Drink Gives Everyone the Right Stuff

Spacewalks, extreme G forces, micro-gravity - astronauts must be able to handle it all. Staying hydrated and healthy is crucial.

To help astronauts avoid muscle fatigue and dizziness from dehydration, NASA scientists developed an electrolyte formula that is now available for weekend warriors and athletes here on Earth. The formula is a concentrated liquid that when mixed with water quickly restores hydration and prevents fluid loss.

Scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., put 15 years of research into the drink's development. NASA astronauts have been drinking the formula on missions for nearly 20 years. The commercial version was licensed to Wellness Brands Inc. of Boulder, Colo., and branded "The Right Stuff." They shipped their first orders on June 11.

"We developed the hydration formula to perform optimally under the most extreme conditions. The health of our highly trained astronauts was paramount," said John Greenleaf, a former Ames research scientist and inventor of the formula, in a recent statement. "With all that Americans and the government have invested in the space program and our astronauts, this is one clear way to protect and maximize that investment."