Transport and regulatory properties of the apical na:k:2cl cotransporter of macula densa cells. Darwin, M. Anuar Laamarti P., Bell_ & Jean-Yves Lapointe. Groupe de recherche en transport membranaire, Universit[acute]e de Montr[acute]eal, Montr[acute]eal, Qu[acute]ebec, Canada, H3C 3J7 and, _ Nephrology Research and Training Center, Division of Nephrology and Departments of Medicine and Physiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, 35294.
APStracts 5:0140F, 1998.
NH4+/NH3 fluxes were used to probe apical Na+:K:2Cl transport activity of macula densa cells from rabbit kidney. In the presence of 25 mM NaCl and 5 mM Ba2+, addition of 20 mM NH4+ to the lumen produced a profound intracellular acidification and 80% of the initial acidification rate was bumetanide sensitive. The NH4+-induced acidification rate was dependent on luminal Cl- and Na+ with apparent affinities of 17 +/- 4 mM (Hill number 1.45) and 1.0 +/- 0.3 mM, respectively. In the presence of saturating luminal [NaCl], blockade of basolateral Cl- efflux with 10 (M nitro-phenylpropyl-amino-benzoic acid (NPPB) reduced the NH4+-induced acidification rate by 51 +/- 6 % (p> 0.01, n=5). Under similar conditions, dbcAMP + forskolin increased the NH4+-induced acidification rate by 27% while it produced no detectable effect at low luminal NaCl concentration. Most of the observed dbcAMP + forskolin effect was probably due to the stimulation of the basolateral Cl- conductance since, in the presence of basolateral NPPB, this activation was changed to a 17.1% and 16.6% inhibition of the NH4+-induced acidification rate observed at high or low luminal [NaCl], respectively. We conclude that the cotransporter found in MD cells displays, with respect to other Na:K:2Cl cotransporters, a relatively high affinity for luminal Na+ and luminal Cl- and can be specifically inhibited by increases in intracellular Cl- and cAMP concentrations.

Received 3 November 1997; accepted in final form 13 August 1998.
APS Manuscript Number F346-7.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Renal Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1998 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 21 September 1998