Cl- channels in basolateral renal medullary vesicles xi. rbclc-ka cdna encodes basolateral mtal cl-channels. Zimniak, Ludwika, Christopher J. Winters, W. Brian Reeves, Thomas E. Andreoli. Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Arkansas College of Medicine and John L. McClellan Veterans Administration Hospital, Little Rock, Arkansas
APStracts 3:0033F, 1996.
The present experiments examined whether rbClC-Ka, a ClC family Cl- channel cDNA from rabbit outer medulla, encodes a basolateral membrane Cl- channel mediating net mTAL Cl- absorption. mTAL cells contain a Cl- channel having certain properties which make it a plausible candidate for the basolateral Cl- channel in that segment. Especially pertinent among these is the fact that cytosolic Cl- increases in the range 2-25?mM activated these Cl- channels. Cultured mouse mTAL cells were grown in the presence of an antisense oligonucleotide specific for rbClC-Ka, or a random oligonucleotide with no complementarity to rbClC-Ka. The abundance of Cl- channels was assessed by the frequency of incorporation of Cl- channels from membrane vesicles prepared from these cells into lipid bilayers; and by Western blot analysis using an antiserum to the C-terminus of the rbClC-Ka protein. Using vesicles from untreated cells, or cells treated with the random oligonucleotide, Cl- channels were incorporated into bilayers in 17% and 16% of trials, respectively. However, when vesicles were prepared from cells pretreated with antisense oligonucleotide, there was a virtual abolition of Cl- channel incorporation into bilayers but no effect on the frequency of K+ channel incorporation. In parallel with the reduction in Cl- channel incorporation, the abundance of rbClC-Ka protein was reduced about 50% on Western blots. Finally, exposure of Cl- channels in lipid bilayers to the rbClC-Ka antiserum resulted in a block in channel activity. These results support the contention that the basolateral Cl- channel mediating net Cl- absorption in the mTAL is encoded by rbClC-Ka.

Received 18 December 1995; accepted in final form 9 February
1996.
APS Manuscript Number F418-5.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Renal Fluid Electrolyte
Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 24 February 96