Intercalated cells (ICs) from kidney collecting ducts contain proton-transporting ATPases (H+-ATPases) whose plasma membrane expression is regulated under a variety of conditions. It has been shown that net proton secretion occurs in the distal nephron from chronically K+-depleted rats and that upregulation of tubular H+- ATPase is involved in this process. However, regulation of this protein at the level of individual cells has not so far been examined. In the present study, H+-ATPase activity was determined in individually identified ICs from control and chronically K+-depleted rats (9–14 days on a low-K+ diet) by monitoring K+- and Na+-independent H+ extrusion rates after an acute acid load. Split-open rat cortical collecting tubules were loaded with the intracellular pH (pHi) indicator 2′,7′-bis(2-carboxyethyl)-5(6)-carboxyfluorescein, and pHiwas determined by using ratiometric fluorescence imaging. The rate of pHi recovery in ICs in response to an acute acid load, a measure of plasma membrane H+-ATPase activity, was increased after K+ depletion to almost three times that of controls. Furthermore, the lag time before the start of pHirecovery after the cells were maximally acidified fell from 93.5 ± 13.7 s in controls to 24.5 ± 2.1 s in K+-depleted rats. In all ICs tested, Na+- and K+-independent pHi recovery was abolished in the presence of bafilomycin (100 nM), an inhibitor of the H+-ATPase. Analysis of the cell-to-cell variability in the rate of pHi recovery reveals a change in the distribution of membrane-bound proton pumps in the IC population of cortical collecting duct from K+-depleted rats. Immunocytochemical analysis of collecting ducts from control and K+-depleted rats showed that K+-depletion increased the number of ICs with tight apical H+ATPase staining and decreased the number of cells with diffuse or basolateral H+-ATPase staining. Taken together, these data indicate that chronic K+ depletion induces a marked increase in plasma membrane H+ATPase activity in individual ICs.
Potassium depletion increases proton pump (H+-ATPase) activity in intercalated cells of cortical collecting duct
