Regulatory phosphorylation of the secretory na-k-cl cotransporter: modulation by cytoplasmic chloride. Lytle, Christian, and Bliss Forbush Iii. Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, Salsbury Cove, ME 04672, Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St., New Haven, CT 06510, Division of Biomedical Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA, 92521
APStracts 2:0286C, 1995.
The effect of cytoplasmic chloride ([Cl-]i) on the activation state ([3H]benzmetanide binding rate) and phosphorylation state (32P incorporation) of the Na-K-Cl cotransporter was evaluated in secretory tubules isolated from the dogfish shark rectal gland. Reduction of [Cl-]i at relatively constant cell volume (by removal of extracellular Cl- or Na+, or by addition of bumetanide) increased cotransporter activation and phosphorylation. Raising [K+]o from 4 mM to 80 mM, a maneuver which elevated [Cl-]i above normal, reduced basal cotransport activity and rendered it entirely refractory to forskolin. High [K+]o also blocked activation and phosphorylation in response to cell shrinkage, despite the fact that [Cl]i was already greatly elevated as a consequence of osmotic water loss. The phosphatase inhibitor calyculin-A also promoted activation, but not in cells pre-exposed briefly to high [K+]o. In summary, maneuvers which lower [Cl-]i activate the cotransporter, while those which elevate [Cl-]i (or prevent it from decreasing) block activation in response to secretory stimuli. Cell chloride appears to govern its own rate of entry via Na-K-Cl cotransport by impeding regulatory phosphorylation of the Na-K-Cl cotransport protein.

Received 5 May 1995; accepted in final form 14 July 1995.
APS Manuscript Number C246-5.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Cell Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 10 August 1995.