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【关键词】 Membrane
Renal Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Division of General Internal Medicine, Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
THE APICAL NA+-K+-2CL COTRANSPORTER of the thick ascending limb (TAL; NKCC2) plays a critical role in the countercurrent multiplication mechanism that drives urinary concentration in response to vasopressin (16). The paper by Ortiz (20) in this issue of AJP-Renal Physiology nicely complements prior work on the regulation of NKCC2 by vasopressin and cAMP, highlighting the role of transporter trafficking in the acute response to this hormone.
The NKCC2 protein, also known as BSC-1, is encoded by the SLC12A1 gene, a member of the cation-chloride cotransporter gene family (12). Heterologous expression of NKCC2 in Xenopus laevis oocytes reveals the expected functional characteristics, i.e., diuretic-sensitive cotransport of Na+ (26) and K+ (86Rb+) (7) that is Cl dependent. Notably, alternative splicing of three cassette exons in SLC12A1 generates isoforms that differ in both distribution along the TAL (13) and in the sequence of transmembrane domain 2 and a flanking intracellular loop (22). These three isoforms differ dramatically in their affinity for the three transported ions (10, 25), leading to novel insights into the mechanism of ion transport by this important transporter (6). NKCC2 is activated about twofold by cell shrinkage, due, at least in part, to phosphorylation of a cluster of NH2-terminal threonines (8) that were initially identified in NKCC1 (SLC12A2) (2), the widely expressed "secretory" Na+-K+-2Cl cotransporter. Unfortunately, regulatory characterization of NKCC2 is of necessity limited to X. laevis oocytes; attempts by at least two groups have failed repeatedly to express this transporter in mammalian cells, in contrast to the success in expressing other cation-chloride cotransporters in HEK293 cells (21, 23) and Madin-Darby canine kidney cells (29). As a consequence, considerably less is known about the cell biology and posttranscriptional regulation of NKCC2 than that of aquaporin-2 (1) and other key renal transport proteins.
Luminal absorption of Na+-Cl via NKCC2 conspires with the low water permeability of the TAL and the countercurrent mechanism to increase medullary tonicity, thus facilitating water absorption by the collecting duct. Vasopressin has both long-term and short-term effects on NKCC2 expression and function, resulting in an enhancement of countercurrent multiplication (16). Subjecting rats to moderate water restriction or DDAVP treatment for 7 days thus results in an increase in the expression of NKCC2 (15). Long-term increases in cAMP presumably stimulate NKCC2 expression via a cAMP response element in the SLC12A1 promoter (4, 14). Several hormones other than vasopressin serve to increase cAMP in the TAL; these include parathyroid hormone, glucagon, and calcitonin (3). In contrast, coupling of the calcium-sensing receptor and the EP3 prostaglandin receptor to inhibitory G proteins is thought to reduce cAMP generation in the TAL (27), leading to a reduction in NKCC2 expression (5, 28).
Vasopressin has well-documented acute effects on NKCC2, activating apical Na+-K+-2Cl cotransport (18) within minutes in perfused TAL (11). Immunoelectron microscopy by Nielsen et al. (19) indicated the expression of NKCC2 protein at the plasma membrane of TAL cells and in abundant subapical vesicles, suggesting a potential role for membrane translocation of the transporter in the acute response to vasopressin/cAMP. More recently, Gimenez and Forbush (9) demonstrated acute phosphorylation of NKCC2 in vivo in response to vasopressin, using a phosphospecific antibody that recognizes the phosphorylated threonines mentioned above (8). This was accompanied by a 55% increase in immunoreactive NKCC2 protein at the apical membrane, as measured by electron microscopy (9). Using surface biotinylation, Ortiz (20) reports that only 23% of total NKCC2 protein is at the cell surface of the TAL under basal conditions and that surface-accessible NKCC2 increases by 125 and 95%, respectively, in response to brief incubation with dibutyryl-cAMP or forskolin/IBMX. Notably, tetanus toxin, which blocks vesicle fusion with the plasma membrane by proteolysis of the vesicular soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) vesicle-associated membrane proteins (VAMP) -2 and VAMP-3, abrogates the effect of cAMP on NKCC2 expression at the plasma membrane. The VAMP-2 and VAMP-3 proteins were also colocalized with NKCC2 at the apical membrane of rat TAL cells. Finally, Ortiz provides a functional correlate, showing that tetanus toxin abolishes the stimulatory effect of cAMP on net chloride absorption by perfused TAL segments.
This single-author study thus provides biochemical confirmation that cAMP and, by extension, vasopressin, stimulates translocation of NKCC2 to the plasma membrane of the TAL. Furthermore, the data showing inhibition of cAMP-stimulated chloride transport by tetanus toxin provide indirect confirmation of the role of vesicle-dependent trafficking in the acute response to vasopressin. As with all good science, this study highlights a number of further questions. For example, what is the role of other SNARE proteins expressed in the TAL (20) and which of these proteins, if any, directly interact with NKCC2 How does the NH2-terminal phosphorylation of NKCC2 (8), stimulated in vivo by vasopressin (9), affect membrane translocation COOH-terminal splice forms of mouse NKCC2 differ in both functional characteristics (24) and membrane trafficking (17), at least when expressed in X. laevis oocytes; how does this COOH-terminal heterogeneity affect interaction with SNARE proteins and/or membrane trafficking in vivo Bridging the gap between X. laevis oocyte studies and the TAL will be a particular challenge, given the difficulties in expressing NKCC2 in mammalian cells. One hopes, however, that some of the answers will emerge from multidisciplinary studies of the likes of this report.
GRANTS
D. B. Mount is supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs and by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Grant RO1-DK-57708.
FOOTNOTES
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