High-conductance K channels in intercalated cells of the rat distal nephron

2007 ◽  
Vol 292 (3) ◽  
pp. F966-F973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence G. Palmer ◽  
Gustavo Frindt

High-conductance (BK or maxi) K+ channels were observed in cell-attached patches of the apical membrane of the isolated split-open rat connecting tubule (CNT). These channels were quite rare in cells identified visually as principal cells (PCs; 5/162 patches) but common in intercalated cells (ICs; 24/26 patches). The BK-expressing intercalated cells in the CNT and cortical collecting duct (CCD) were characterized by a low membrane potential (−36 mV) under short-circuit conditions, measured from the reversal potential of the channel currents with similar K+ concentrations on both sides of the membrane. Under whole-cell clamp conditions with low intracellular Ca2+, ICs had a very low K+ conductance. When cell Ca2+ was increased to 200 nM, a voltage-dependent, tetraethylammonium (TEA)-sensitive outward conductance was activated with a limiting value of 90 and 140 nS/cell in the CNT and CCD, respectively. Feeding animals a high-K diet for 1 wk did not increase these currents. TEA-sensitive currents were much smaller in PCs and usually below detection limits. To examine the possibility that the ICs participate in transepithelial K+ secretion, we measured Na/K pump activity as a ouabain-sensitive current. Although these currents were easily observed in PCs, averaging 79 ± 14 and 250 ± 50 pA/cell in the CCD and CNT, respectively, they were below the level of detection in the ICs. We conclude that ICs have BK channel densities that are sufficient to support renal secretion of K+ if cell Ca2+ is elevated. However. a pathway for K+ entry into these cells has not been identified.

2007 ◽  
Vol 293 (1) ◽  
pp. F227-F235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Liu ◽  
Tetsuji Morimoto ◽  
Craig Woda ◽  
Thomas R. Kleyman ◽  
Lisa M. Satlin

Apical low-conductance SK and high-conductance Ca2+-activated BK channels are present in distal nephron, including the cortical collecting duct (CCD). Flow-stimulated net K secretion ( JK) in the CCD is 1) blocked by iberiotoxin, an inhibitor of BK but not SK channels, and 2) associated with an increase in [Ca2+]i, leading us to conclude that BK channels mediate flow-stimulated JK. To examine the Ca2+ dependence and sources of Ca2+ contributing to flow-stimulated JK, JK and net Na absorption ( JNa) were measured at slow (∼1) and fast (∼5 nl·min−1·mm−1) flow rates in rabbit CCDs microperfused in the absence of luminal Ca2+ or after pretreatment with BAPTA-AM to chelate intracellular Ca2+, 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate (2-APB), to inhibit the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) receptor or thapsigargin to deplete internal stores. These treatments, which do not affect flow-stimulated JNa (Morimoto et al. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 291: F663–F669, 2006), inhibited flow-stimulated JK. Increases in [Ca2+]i stimulate exocytosis. To test whether flow induces exocytic insertion of preformed BK channels into the apical membrane, CCDs were pretreated with 10 μM colchicine (COL) to disrupt microtubule function or 5 μg/ml brefeldin-A (BFA) to inhibit delivery of channels from the intracellular pool to the plasma membrane. Both agents inhibited flow-stimulated JK but not JNa (Morimoto et al. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 291: F663–F669, 2006), although COL but not BFA also blocked the flow-induced [Ca2+]i transient. We thus speculate that BK channel-mediated, flow-stimulated JK requires an increase in [Ca2+]i due, in part, to luminal Ca2+ entry and ER Ca2+ release, microtubule integrity, and exocytic insertion of preformed channels into the apical membrane.


2012 ◽  
Vol 302 (1) ◽  
pp. F205-F215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Liu ◽  
Núria M. Pastor-Soler ◽  
Carlos Schreck ◽  
Beth Zavilowitz ◽  
Thomas R. Kleyman ◽  
...  

Epithelial Na+ channel (ENaC)-mediated Na+ absorption and BK channel-mediated K+ secretion in the cortical collecting duct (CCD) are modulated by flow, the latter requiring an increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i), microtubule integrity, and exocytic insertion of preformed channels into the apical membrane. As axial flow modulates HCO3− reabsorption in the proximal tubule due to changes in both luminal Na+/H+ exchanger 3 and H+-ATPase activity (Du Z, Yan Q, Duan Y, Weinbaum S, Weinstein AM, Wang T. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 290: F289–F296, 2006), we sought to test the hypothesis that flow also regulates H+-ATPase activity in the CCD. H+-ATPase activity was assayed in individually identified cells in microperfused CCDs isolated from New Zealand White rabbits, loaded with the pH-sensitive dye BCECF, and then subjected to an acute intracellular acid load (NH4Cl prepulse technique). H+-ATPase activity was defined as the initial rate of bafilomycin-inhibitable cell pH (pHi) recovery in the absence of luminal K+, bilateral Na+, and CO2/HCO3−, from a nadir pH of ∼6.2. We found that 1) an increase in luminal flow rate from ∼1 to 5 nl·min−1·mm−1 stimulated H+-ATPase activity, 2) flow-stimulated H+ pumping was Ca2+ dependent and required microtubule integrity, and 3) basal and flow-stimulated pHi recovery was detected in cells that labeled with the apical principal cell marker rhodamine Dolichos biflorus agglutinin as well as cells that did not. We conclude that luminal flow modulates H+-ATPase activity in the rabbit CCD and that H+-ATPases therein are present in both principal and intercalated cells.


2017 ◽  
Vol 312 (6) ◽  
pp. F1081-F1089 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Li ◽  
Hongxiang Hu ◽  
Jin-Bin Tian ◽  
Michael X. Zhu ◽  
Roger G. O’Neil

The large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channel, BK (KCNMA1), is expressed along the connecting tubule (CNT) and cortical collecting duct (CCD) where it underlies flow- and Ca2+-dependent K+ secretion. Its activity is partially under the control of the mechanosensitive transient receptor potential vanilloid type 4 (TRPV4) Ca2+-permeable channel. Recently, we identified three small-/intermediate-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels, SK1 (KCNN1), SK3 (KCNN3), and IK1 (KCNN4), with notably high Ca2+-binding affinities, that are expressed in CNT/CCD and may be regulated by TRPV4-mediated Ca2+ influx. The K+-secreting CCD mCCDcl1 cells, which express these channels, were used to determine whether SK1/3 and IK1 are activated on TRPV4 stimulation and whether they contribute to Ca2+ influx and activation of BK. Activation of TRPV4 (GSK1016790A) modestly depolarized the membrane potential and robustly increased intracellular Ca2+, [Ca2+]i. Inhibition of both SK1/3 and IK1 by application of apamin and 1-[(2-chlorophenyl)diphenylmethyl]-1H-pyrazole (TRAM-34), respectively, further depolarized the membrane potential and markedly suppressed the TRPV4-mediated rise in [Ca2+]i. Application of BK inhibitor iberiotoxin after activation of TRPV4 without apamin/TRAM-34 also reduced [Ca2+]i and further intensified membrane depolarization, demonstrating BK involvement. However, the BK-dependent effects on [Ca2+]i and membrane potential were largely abolished by pretreatment with apamin and TRAM-34, identical to that observed by separately suppressing TRPV4-mediated Ca2+ influx, demonstrating that SK1/3-IK1 channels potently contribute to TRPV4-mediated BK activation. Our data indicate a direct correlation between TRPV4-mediated Ca2+ signal and BK activation but where early activation of SK1/3 and IK1 channels are critical to sufficiently enhanced Ca2+ entry and [Ca2+]i levels required for activation of BK.


2017 ◽  
Vol 312 (1) ◽  
pp. F143-F156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolando Carrisoza-Gaytán ◽  
Lijun Wang ◽  
Carlos Schreck ◽  
Thomas R. Kleyman ◽  
Wen-Hui Wang ◽  
...  

Within the CCD of the distal nephron of the rabbit, the BK (maxi K) channel mediates Ca2+- and/or stretch-dependent flow-induced K+ secretion (FIKS) and contributes to K+ adaptation in response to dietary K+ loading. An unresolved question is whether BK channels in intercalated cells (ICs) and/or principal cells (PCs) in the CCD mediate these K+ secretory processes. In support of a role for ICs in FIKS is the higher density of immunoreactive apical BKα (pore-forming subunit) and functional BK channel activity than detected in PCs, and an increase in IC BKα expression in response to a high-K+ diet. PCs possess a single apical cilium which has been proposed to serve as a mechanosensor; direct manipulation of cilia leads to increases in cell Ca2+ concentration, albeit of nonciliary origin. Immunoperfusion of isolated and fixed CCDs isolated from control K+-fed rabbits with channel subunit-specific antibodies revealed colocalization of immunodetectable BKα- and β1-subunits in cilia as well as on the apical membrane of cilia-expressing PCs. Ciliary BK channels were more easily detected in rabbits fed a low-K+ vs. high-K+ diet. Single-channel recordings of cilia revealed K+ channels with conductance and kinetics typical of the BK channel. The observations that 1) FIKS was preserved but 2) the high-amplitude Ca2+ peak elicited by flow was reduced in microperfused CCDs subject to pharmacological deciliation suggest that cilia BK channels do not contribute to K+ secretion in this segment, but that cilia serve as modulators of cell signaling.


2003 ◽  
Vol 285 (4) ◽  
pp. F629-F639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig B. Woda ◽  
Nobuyuki Miyawaki ◽  
Santhanam Ramalakshmi ◽  
Mohan Ramkumar ◽  
Raul Rojas ◽  
...  

High urinary flow rates stimulate K secretion in the fully differentiated but not neonatal or weanling rabbit cortical collecting duct (CCD). Both small-conductance secretory K and high-conductance Ca2+/stretch-activated maxi-K channels have been identified in the apical membrane of the mature CCD by patch-clamp analysis. We reported that flow-stimulated net K secretion in the adult rabbit CCD is 1) blocked by TEA and charybdotoxin, inhibitors of intermediate- and high-conductance (maxi-K) Ca2+-activated K channels, and 2) associated with increases in net Na absorption and intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i). The present study examined whether the absence of flow-stimulated K secretion early in life is due to a 1) limited flow-induced rise in net Na absorption and/or [Ca2+]i and/or 2) paucity of apical maxi-K channels. An approximately sixfold increase in tubular fluid flow rate in CCDs isolated from 4-wk-old rabbits and microperfused in vitro led to an increase in net Na absorption and [Ca2+]i, similar in magnitude to the response observed in 6-wk-old tubules, but it failed to generate an increase in net K secretion. By 5 wk of age, there was a small, but significant, flow-stimulated rise in net K secretion that increased further by 6 wk of life. Luminal perfusion with iberiotoxin blocked the flow stimulation of net K secretion in the adult CCD, confirming the identity of the maxi-K channel in this response. Maxi-K channel α-subunit message was consistently detected in single CCDs from animals ≥4 wk of age by RT-PCR. Indirect immunofluorescence microscopy using antibodies directed against the α-subunit revealed apical labeling of intercalated cells in cryosections from animals ≥5 wk of age; principal cell labeling was generally intracellular and punctate. We speculate that the postnatal appearance of flow-dependent K secretion is determined by the transcriptional/translational regulation of expression of maxi-K channels. Furthermore, our studies suggest a novel function for intercalated cells in mediating flow-stimulated K secretion.


2000 ◽  
Vol 279 (1) ◽  
pp. F195-F202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randi B. Silver ◽  
Sylvie Breton ◽  
Dennis Brown

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.


2013 ◽  
Vol 304 (4) ◽  
pp. F422-F431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse M. Bishop ◽  
Hyun-Wook Lee ◽  
Mary E. Handlogten ◽  
Ki-Hwan Han ◽  
Jill W. Verlander ◽  
...  

The ammonia transporter family member, Rh B Glycoprotein (Rhbg), is an ammonia-specific transporter heavily expressed in the kidney and is necessary for the normal increase in ammonia excretion in response to metabolic acidosis. Hypokalemia is a common clinical condition in which there is increased renal ammonia excretion despite the absence of metabolic acidosis. The purpose of this study was to examine Rhbg's role in this response through the use of mice with intercalated cell-specific Rhbg deletion (IC-Rhbg-KO). Hypokalemia induced by feeding a K+-free diet increased urinary ammonia excretion significantly. In mice with intact Rhbg expression, hypokalemia increased Rhbg protein expression in intercalated cells in the cortical collecting duct (CCD) and in the outer medullary collecting duct (OMCD). Deletion of Rhbg from intercalated cells inhibited hypokalemia-induced changes in urinary total ammonia excretion significantly and completely prevented hypokalemia-induced increases in urinary ammonia concentration, but did not alter urinary pH. We conclude that hypokalemia increases Rhbg expression in intercalated cells in the cortex and outer medulla and that intercalated cell Rhbg expression is necessary for the normal increase in renal ammonia excretion in response to hypokalemia.


2002 ◽  
Vol 283 (4) ◽  
pp. R983-R992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Piermarini ◽  
Jill W. Verlander ◽  
Ines E. Royaux ◽  
David H. Evans

Pendrin is an anion exchanger in the cortical collecting duct of the mammalian nephron that appears to mediate apical Cl−/HCO[Formula: see text]exchange in bicarbonate-secreting intercalated cells. The goals of this study were to determine 1) if pendrin immunoreactivity was present in the gills of a euryhaline elasmobranch (Atlantic stingray, Dasyatis sabina), and 2) if branchial pendrin immunoreactivity was influenced by environmental salinity. Immunoblots detected pendrin immunoreactivity in Atlantic stingray gills; pendrin immunoreactivity was greatest in freshwater stingrays compared with freshwater stingrays acclimated to seawater (seawater acclimated) and marine stingrays. Using immunohistochemistry, pendrin-positive cells were detected on both gill lamellae and interlamellar regions of freshwater stingrays but were more restricted to interlamellar regions in seawater-acclimated and marine stingray gills. Pendrin immunolabeling in freshwater stingray gills was more apical, discrete, and intense compared with seawater-acclimated and marine stingrays. Regardless of salinity, pendrin immunoreactivity occurred on the apical region of cells rich with basolateral vacuolar-proton-ATPase, and not in Na+-K+-ATPase-rich cells. We suggest that a pendrin-like transporter may contribute to apical Cl−/HCO[Formula: see text] exchange in gills of Atlantic stingrays from both freshwater and marine environments.


1998 ◽  
Vol 274 (4) ◽  
pp. F736-F743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joost G. J. Hoenderop ◽  
Anita Hartog ◽  
Peter H. G. M. Willems ◽  
René J. M. Bindels

Confluent monolayers of immunodissected rabbit connecting tubule and cortical collecting duct cells, cultured on permeable supports, were used to study the effect of adenosine on net apical-to-basolateral Ca2+ transport. Apical, but not basolateral, adenosine increased this transport dose dependently from 48 ± 3 to 110 ± 4 nmol ⋅ h−1 ⋅ cm−2. Although a concomitant increase in cAMP formation suggested the involvement of an A2 receptor, the A2 agonist CGS-21680 did not stimulate Ca2+ transport, while readily increasing cAMP. By contrast, the A1 agonist N 6-cyclopentyladenosine (CPA) maximally stimulated Ca2+transport without significantly affecting cAMP. Adenosine-stimulated transport was effectively inhibited by the A1 antagonist 1,3-dipropyl-8-cyclopenthylxanthine but not the A2 antagonist 3,7-dimethyl-1-propargylxanthine, providing additional evidence for the involvement of an A1 receptor. Both abolishment of the adenosine-induced transient increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration by 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane- N, N, N′, N′-tetraacetic acid and downregulation of protein kinase C (PKC) by prolonged phorbol ester treatment were without effect on adenosine-stimulated Ca2+ transport. The data presented suggest that adenosine interacts with an apical A1 receptor to stimulate Ca2+ transport via a hitherto unknown pathway that does not involve cAMP formation, PKC activation, and/or Ca2+ mobilization.


2011 ◽  
Vol 301 (5) ◽  
pp. F1088-F1097 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Liu ◽  
Carlos Schreck ◽  
Richard A. Coleman ◽  
James B. Wade ◽  
Yubelka Hernandez ◽  
...  

Apical SK/ROMK and BK channels mediate baseline and flow-induced K secretion (FIKS), respectively, in the cortical collecting duct (CCD). BK channels are detected in acid-base transporting intercalated (IC) and Na-absorbing principal (PC) cells. Although the density of BK channels is greater in IC than PC, Na-K-ATPase activity in IC is considered inadequate to sustain high rates of urinary K secretion. To test the hypothesis that basolateral NKCC in the CCD contributes to BK channel-mediated FIKS, we measured net K secretion ( JK) and Na absorption ( JNa) at slow (∼1) and fast (∼5 nl·min−1·mm−1) flow rates in rabbit CCDs microperfused in vitro in the absence and presence of bumetanide, an inhibitor of NKCC, added to the bath. Bumetanide inhibited FIKS but not basal JK, JNa, or the flow-induced [Ca2+]i transient necessary for BK channel activation. Addition of luminal iberiotoxin, a BK channel inhibitor, to bumetanide-treated CCDs did not further reduce JK. Basolateral Cl removal reversibly inhibited FIKS but not basal JK or JNa. Quantitative PCR performed on single CCD samples using NKCC1- and 18S-specific primers and probes and the TaqMan assay confirmed the presence of the transcript in this nephron segment. To identify the specific cell type to which basolateral NKCC is localized, we exploited the ability of NKCC to accept NH4+ at its K-binding site to monitor the rate of bumetanide-sensitive cytosolic acidification after NH4+ addition to the bath in CCDs loaded with the pH indicator dye BCECF. Both IC and PC were found to have a basolateral bumetanide-sensitive NH4+ entry step and NKCC1-specific antibodies labeled the basolateral surfaces of both cell types in CCDs. These results suggest that BK channel-mediated FIKS is dependent on a basolateral bumetanide-sensitive, Cl-dependent transport pathway, proposed to be NKCC1, in both IC and PC in the CCD.


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