Cellular bicarbonate protects rat duodenal mucosa from acid-induced injury.

Secretion of bicarbonate from epithelial cells is considered to be the primary mechanism by which the duodenal mucosa is protected from acid-related injury. Against this view is the finding that patients with cystic fibrosis, who have impaired duodenal bicarbonate secretion, are paradoxically protected from developing duodenal ulcers. Therefore, we hypothesized that epithelial cell intracellular pH regulation, rather than secreted extracellular bicarbonate, was the principal means by which duodenal epithelial cells are protected from acidification and injury. Using a novel in vivo microscopic method, we have measured bicarbonate secretion and epithelial cell intracellular pH (pH(i)), and we have followed cell injury in the presence of the anion transport inhibitor DIDS and the Cl(-) channel inhibitor, 5-nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino) benzoic acid (NPPB). DIDS and NPPB abolished the increase of duodenal bicarbonate secretion following luminal acid perfusion. DIDS decreased basal pH(i), whereas NPPB increased pH(i); DIDS further decreased pH(i) during acid challenge and abolished the pH(i) overshoot over baseline observed after acid challenge, whereas NPPB attenuated the fall of pH(i) and exaggerated the overshoot. Finally, acid-induced epithelial injury was enhanced by DIDS and decreased by NPPB. The results support the role of intracellular bicarbonate in the protection of duodenal epithelial cells from luminal gastric acid.

Phosphorylation of Ser(982) in the sodium bicarbonate cotransporter kNBC1 shifts the HCO(3)(-) : Na(+) stoichiometry from 3 : 1 to 2 : 1 in murine proximal tubule cells.

1. Adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) modulates proximal tubule sodium and bicarbonate absorption by decreasing the rate of apical Na(+)-H(+) exchange and basolateral sodium bicarbonate efflux, through activation of protein kinase A (PKA). The electrogenic sodium bicarbonate cotransporter kNBC1 mediates basolateral sodium and bicarbonate efflux in the proximal tubule by coupling the transport of 1 Na(+) cation to that of 3 HCO(3)(-) anions. In this work we studied the effects of cAMP on the function of kNBC1 expressed heterologously in a proximal tubule cell line. 2. A mouse renal proximal tubule cell line, deficient in electrogenic sodium bicarbonate cotransport function, was transfected with kNBC1. Cells were grown on a permeable support to confluence, mounted in an Ussing chamber and permeabilized apically with amphotericin B. Current through the cotransporter was isolated as the difference current due to the reversible inhibitor dinitrostilbene disulfonate. The HCO(3)(-) : Na(+) stoichiometry of kNBC1 was calculated from its reversal potential by measuring the current-voltage relationships of the cotransporter at different Na(+) concentration gradients. 3. Addition of the potent cAMP agonist 8-Br-cAMP caused the stoichiometry of kNBC1 to shift from 3 HCO(3)(-) : 1 Na(+) to 2 HCO(3)(-) : 1 Na(+). Pretreatment of the cells with the PKA inhibitor H-89 abolished the effect of the agonist on the stoichiometry change. Replacing Ser(982) at the C-terminus consensus PKA phosphorylation site with alanine resulted in a failure of PKA to phosphorylate the transporter and induce a stoichiometry shift. 4. Our data indicate that cAMP modulates the stoichiometry of kNBC1 through activation of PKA. The change in stoichiometry from 3 : 1 to 2 : 1 is predicted to cause a shift in the direction of basolateral membrane sodium bicarbonate transport from efflux to influx. Ser(982) in the C-terminus of kNBC1 is a target for PKA phosphorylation. This is the first example of modulation of the stoichiometry of a membrane transporter by phosphorylation.

Immunolocalization of electrogenic sodium-bicarbonate cotransporters pNBC1 and kNBC1 in the rat eye.

The human NBC1 gene encodes two electrogenic sodium-bicarbonate cotransport proteins, pNBC1 and kNBC1, which are candidate proteins for mediating electrogenic sodium-bicarbonate cotransport in ocular cells. Mutations in the coding region of the human NBC1 gene in exons common to both pNBC1 and kNBC1 result in a syndrome with a severe ocular and renal phenotype (blindness, band keratopathy, glaucoma, cataracts, and proximal renal tubular acidosis). In the present study, we determined the pattern of electrogenic sodium-bicarbonate cotransporter protein expression in rat eye. For this purpose, pNBC1- and kNBC1-specific antibodies were generated and used to detect these NBC1 protein variants by immunoblotting and immunocytochemistry. pNBC1 is expressed in cornea, conjunctiva, lens, ciliary body, and retina, whereas the expression of kNBC1 is restricted to the conjunctiva. These results provide the first evidence for extrarenal kNBC1 protein expression. The data in this study will serve as a basis for understanding the molecular mechanisms responsible for abnormalities in ocular electrogenic sodium-bicarbonate cotransport in patients with mutations in the NBC1 gene.