Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Q Al-Awqati

Publications and source records attributed to Q Al-Awqati.

61 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Characteristics of stimulation of H+ transport by aldosterone in turtle urinary bladder.

Aldosterone stimulates not only Na+ absorption but also urinary acidification. In this investigation the effects of aldosterone on H+ transport are examined in vitro in turtle bladder, a urinary membrane in which several of the factors controlling H+ transport have been defined. H+ transport was increased in bladder halves exposed to aldosterone compared to control halves. Stimulation of H+ secretion was observed as early as 1 h after addition of aldosterone and occurred before that of Na+ transport. In bladders depleted of endogenous substrate addition of glucose increased H+ transport more in aldosterone-treated halves (10.0+/-1.3 nmol/min) than in control halves (6.8+/-2.3). Addition of pyruvate failed to increase H+ transport (--0.3+/-0.7) in control halves but caused significant increments (2.4+/-0.5) in aldosterone-treated halves. In aldosterone-treated bladders glucose caused larger increments (16.5+/-2.7) in H+ transport than pyruvate (9.3+/-2.0) when halves of the same bladders were compared. Na+ transport, however, was equally increased by the two substrates. Despite the differences in time course and substrate requirements between the stimulation of H+ and Na+ transport, both increases were abolished by actinomycin-D. To examine the effect of aldosterone on the force of the H+ pump, protonmotive force, the pH gradient that would nullify the transport rate was determined with and without aldosterone. Aldosterone did not alter protonmotive force but significantly increased the slope of the H+ transport rate on the applied pH gradient. It is concluded that aldosterone stimulates H+ transport independently of Na+ transport. It increases the responsiveness of the transport rate to glucose and to a lesser extent pyruvate, an effect probably secondary to the increased transport rate. Equivalent circuit analysis indicates that aldosterone facilitates the flow of protons through the active transport pathway but does not increase the force of the pump.

Aldosterone↗

Coupling of sodium transport to respiration in the toad bladder.

Energy expenditure and transepithelial sodium transport were measured continuously and simultaneously from isolated urinary bladders of the Dominican toad, Bufo marinus. Sodium transport was measured as the short-circuit current and CO2 produced by the bladder was measured conductometrically by the method of Maffly. The rates of sodium transport and CO2 productions were linearly related. The slope of the regression of sodium transport on CO2 production, dJNa/dJCO2, was found to be quite similar in paired half bladders but to differ significantly between bladders from different toads. Thus, in this preparation there appears to be no unique stoichiometric ratio characterizing sodium transport and metabolism and past efforts to arrive at such a value by averaging results obtained from different animals do not seem warranted. The CO2 production by the isolated bladder which is unrelated to sodium transport was determined by two means: 1) extrapolating the regression of JNa on JCO2 to JNa equals O, and 2) measuring CO2 production with sodium transport suppressed by removal of all sodium from the mucosal bathing medium. The two methods gave values which were in close agreement in each preparationmthis suggests that metabolism which supports nontransport activities in this tissue cannot be recruited to support the energy requirement of sodium transport and vice versa.

Animals↗

Carbon-dioxide-induced exocytotic insertion of H+ pumps in turtle-bladder luminal membrane: role of cell pH and calcium.

The contents of endocytic vesicles and other intracellular organelles (such as Golgi and microsomes) are acidified by an electrogenic proton-translocating ATPase that is remarkably similar to that found in urinary epithelia. We recently found that the number of H+ ATPases in the apical plasma membrane of these epithelia is regulated by exocytotic insertion of endocytic vesicles whose membranes contain this H+ pump. Carbon dioxide, a major stimulus for urinary acidification, causes rapid fusion of these vesicles with the luminal membrane, thereby inserting these pumps there and increasing the rate of net transepithelial H+ secretion; CO2 also inhibits endocytic retrieval of the pumps from the luminal membrane. Such reciprocal regulation of endocytosis and exocytosis by a physiological modulator makes this system particularly attractive for studying the cellular events regulating membrane fusion. Here we present evidence that CO2 induces exocytosis by a cascade of events, the first step of which is cytoplasmic acidification. Cell acidification then increases calcium activity, which causes the fusion event.

Animals↗

Plasticity of functional epithelial polarity.

The fundamental characteristics that allow vectorial transport across an epithelial cell are the differential sorting and insertion of transport proteins either in the apical or the basolateral plasma membrane, and the preferential association of endocytosis and exocytosis with one or the other pole of the cell. Asymmetrical cellular structure and function, being manifestations of terminal differentiation, might be expected to be predetermined and invariant. Here we show that the polarity of transepithelial H+ transport, endocytosis and exocytosis in kidney can be reversed by environmental stimuli. The HCO3- secreting cell in the cortical collecting tubule is found to be an intercalated cell possessing a Cl-/HCO3- exchanger in the apical membrane and proton pumps in endocytic vesicles that fuse with the basolateral membrane; the H+-secreting cell in the medullary collecting tubule has these transport functions on the opposite membranes. Further, the HCO3- -secreting cell can be induced to change its functional polarity to that of the H+-secreting cell by acid-loading the animal.

Animals↗

Nephrology rounds, University of Iowa Hospitals: renal tubular acidosis.

We have discussed two patients who had renal tubular acidosis complicated by hypokalemia. The first patient had a distal acidifying defect. Circumstantial evidence has been presented suggesting that exposure to toluene-diisocyanate or toluene-diamine played a role in the pathogenesis. The acidosis and the hypokalemia of this patient were easily corrected by the administration of small amounts of sodium bicarbonate without potassium supplementation. The second patient had an interstitial nephritis of unknown etiology and presented with moderate renal insufficiency, renal tubular acidosis, and proximal as well as distal acidifying defects. The proximal tubular dysfunction was associated with general aminoaciduria and glucosuria. This patient required large quantities of both alkali and potassium to correct the electrolyte abnormalities. The mechanisms of potassium wasting in proximal and distal renal tubular acidosis are reviewed. A classification is presented of cellular defects that may underlie the different renal acidifying defects. Attempts to distinguish between pump and permeability defects from urinary pCO2 levels must take into account the simultaneous HCO-3 concentration, since large pCO2 elevations require the presence of ample HCO-3 in the urine. Permeability defects may impair urinary acidification by either abnormal back flux of H+ out of the lumen or increased influx of HCO-3 into the lumen. In studies of acidification in vitro, amphotericin B causes increased H+ permeability and has little effect on HCO-3 permeability. Toluene-diamine causes a marked permeability defect which is reversible, but remains to be defined in terms of the ion species, HCO-3 or H+, affected. At times, hyperchloremic acidosis is caused by distal defects in net acid excretion that occur without impairment of the H+ gradient. In certain patients with hypoaldosteronism, for example, distal H+ secretion may be reduced without change in the force of the H+ pump.

Acidosis, Renal Tubular↗

Phenotypic plasticity and terminal differentiation of the intercalated cell: the hensin pathway.

The intercalated cell of the collecting tubule exists in a spectrum of types. The alpha form secretes acid by an apical H(+) ATPase and a basolateral Cl:HCO(3) exchanger which is an alternatively spliced form of the red cell band 3 (kAE1), while the beta form secretes HCO(3) by having these transporters on the reverse membranes. In a clonal cell line of the beta form we found that seeding density causes this conversion. A new protein, termed hensin, was deposited in the extracellular matrix of high-density cells which on purification reversed the polarity of the transporters. Hensin also induced the expression of the microvillar protein, villin, and caused the appearance of the apical terminal web proteins, cytokeratin 19 and actin, all of which led to the development of an exuberant microvillar structure. In addition, hensin caused the beta cells to assume a columnar shape. All of these studies demonstrate that the conversion of polarity in the intercalated cell, at least in vitro, represents terminal differentiation and that hensin is the first protein in a new pathway that mediates this process. Hensin, DMBT1, CRP-ductin, and ebnerin are alternately spliced products from a single gene located on human chromosome 10q25-26, a region often deleted in several cancers, especially malignant gliomas. Hensin is expressed in many epithelial cell types, and it is possible that it plays a similarly important role in the differentiation of these epithelia as well.

Animals↗