Selective inhibition of urea transport by oxidizing agents. Evidence for a site of inhibition behond the generation of cyclic AMP

Effect of crude extract of roots of Bredemeyera floribunda Willd. III. Effect on hormone-stimulated water transport in isolated frog skin

The diuretic activity of the crude extract of roots of Bredemeyera floribunda Willd. (Polygalaceae) was investigated on basal and hormone-stimulated absorptive water transport in the isolated frog skin. The extract, added to the mucosal skin surface, at the peak of oxytocin (Oxy) action induces steady and dose-dependent reduction of water transport. Pre-treatment of the skins during 2 h with the extract, added to mucosal skin surface, renders the epithelium non-responsive to oxytocin. These effects are not observed when the extract is added to the serosal skin surface. Basal water transport is not altered by the extract. The results, apart from indicating inhibition of the oxytocin-stimulated water transport in frog skin epithelium, support the folk therapeutic use of infusion of the root extract as a diuretic.

Electron-microscopic study of the apical region of the toad bladder epithelial cell

Antidiuretic hormone (ADH) promotes fusion of cytoplasmic tubules with the luminal membrane and delivery of particles from the tubules to the membrane. The particles are believed to be the water-conducting elements in the membrane. We have employed several scanning (SEM) and transmission electron-microscopic (TEM) techniques to study the relationship of the cytoplasmic tubules to the luminal membrane and to the apical cytoskeleton of the toad bladder epithelial cell. This paper reports the results of freeze-crack SEM and tannic acid-fixed TEM studies, as well as studies with a resinless method of embedding. Freeze-cracked epithelial cells reveal that the tubules are anchored in a matrix of cytoskeleton and granules just below the luminal membrane, and many, if not all, retain their anchorage to the matrix after ADH-induced fusion. Tannic acid-fixed specimens show that the tubules in unstimulated cells lie horizontally. Fusion appears to involve an angulation of the tubules, and this may be the major mode of ADH-induced tubule movement. There are suggestions in the tannic acid sections of filamentous attachments of tubules to the surrounding cytoskeleton. In addition there are prominent microfilament bundles running down the microvilli and a dense concentration of filaments just below the luminal membrane. The presence of these filaments is confirmed in the resinless sections, and their possible role in ADH action is discussed.

Alteration of luminal membrane structure by antidiuretic hormone

The final step in the action of antidiuretic hormone (ADH) is the insertion of aggregates of water-conducting particles into the luminal membrane of the receptor cell. The aggregates arise from cytoplasmic tubular structures that fuse with the luminal membrane. This review presents a number of questions about this process, along with current attempts to answer them. The following topics are addressed: 1) the exact role of the cytoskeleton in promoting tubular fusion, 2) the nature of the translocation process leading to fusion, 3) the point in the sequence at which ADH enters, 4) the composition and structure of the water-conducting particles. Some of the answers require a more complete understanding of the structure of the apical portion of ADH-sensitive cells; recent morphological studies are therefore included.

The nature of urea transport across the luminal membrane of Bufo bufo urinary bladder

By using the washing-out technique, counterflow acceleration for urea was demonstrated on the luminal membrane of Bufo bufo urinary bladder, in the absence of ADH. This phenomenon completely disappears in the presence of phloretin 10-4 M on the luminal side and is consistent with the presence of a mobile carrier mechanism for urea transport across the luminal membrane, in basal conditions. In the presence of ADH, counterflow acceleration is completely absent. This result is in agreement with the presence of urea selective channels, induced by ADH, as proposed by Levine & Worthington (1976).

Modulation of vasopressin action by reducing agents in Bufo marinus

The effects of the reducing agent dithiothreitol (DTT) on vasopressin (AVP)-stimulated osmotic water flow and adenylate cyclase activity were studied in the urinary bladder of Bufo marinus. DTT produced concentration-dependent inhibition of the hydroosmotic water permeability response to 10 mU/ml AVP and 10 mM theophylline but did not inhibit the response to 10 mM adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP). The inhibitory effects of DTT on AVP responsiveness were partially reversed by washing in DTT-free Ringer solution or by addition of oxidizing agents such as dehydroascorbic acid (DHA) or H2O2. The inhibitory effects of DTT were completely reversed by washing in DTT-free Ringer plus addition of DHA. In addition, the inhibitory effects of DTT on AVP-induced osmotic water flow were partially reversed by the GTP analogue 5'-guanylyl imidodiphosphate [Gpp(NH)p]. DTT also inhibited the adenylate cyclase response to AVP but did not alter the response to AVP plus Gpp(NH)p or the response to NaF. These observations suggest that the inhibitory effect of thiol compounds on AVP responsiveness may be modulated through alterations of a redox system distal to the hormone receptor but proximal to the catalytic subunit of adenylate cyclase. Inasmuch as Gpp(NH)p partially reversed the inhibitory effects of DTT on AVP-stimulated osmotic water permeability and prevented the inhibitory effect of DTT on AVP-stimulated adenylate cyclase, an effect on either GTPase or binding of GTP to the regulatory protein of adenylate cyclase is suggested by these observations.

Membrane pathways for water and solutes in the toad bladder: I. Independent activation of water and urea transport

Vsopressin activates a number of transport systems in the toad bladder, including the systems for water, urea, sodium, and other small solutes. Evidence from experiments with selective inhibitors indicates that these transport systems are to a large extent functionally independent. In the present study, we show that the transport systems can be separately activated. Low concentrations of vasopressin (1 mU/ml) activate urea transport with virtually no effect on water transport. This selective effect is due in part to the relatively greater inhibitor action of endogenous prostaglandins on water transport. Low concentrations of 8-bromoadenosine cyclic AMP, on the other hand, activate water, but not urea transport. In additional experiments, we found that varying the ratio of exogenous cyclic AMP to theophylline activated water or urea transport selectively. These studies support the concept of independently controlled systems for water and solute transport, and provide a basis for the study of individual luminal membrane pathways for water and solutes in the accompanying paper.

Membrane pathways for water and solutes in the toad bladder: II. Reflection coefficients of the water and solute channels

Urea and water transport across the toad bladder can be separately activated by low concentrations of vasopressin or 8 Br-cAMP. Employing this method of selective activation, we have determined the reflection coefficient (sigma) of urea and other small molecules under circumstances in which the bladder was transporting urea or water. An osmotic method for the determination of sigma was used, in which the ability of a given solute to retard water efflux from the bladder was compared to that of raffinose (sigma = 1.0) or water (sigma = 0). When urea transport was activated (low concentration of vasopressin), sigma for urea and other solutes was low, (sigma urea, 0.08--0.39; sigma acetamide, 0.55; sigma ethylene glycol, 0.60). When water transport was activated (0.1 mM 8 Br-cAMP) sigma urea approached 1.0 sigma urea also approached 1.0 at high vasopressin concentrations. In a separate series of studies, sigma urea was determined in the presence of 2 x 10(-5) M KMnO4 in the luminal bathing medium. Under these conditions, when urea transport is selectively blocked, sigma urea rose from a value of 0.12 to 0.89. Thus, permanganate appears to "close" the urea transport channel. These findings indicate that the luminal membrane channels for water and solutes differ significantly in their dimensions. The solute channels, limited in number, have relatively large radii. They carry a small fraction (approximately 10%) of total water flow. The water transport channels, on the other hand, have small radii, approximately the size of a water molecule, and exclude solutes as small as urea.

pH-Dependence of water and solute transport in toad urinary bladder

Stimulation of urea and water transport by vasopressin (ADH) appears to occur via independent pathways. We examined the effects of altering serosal or mucosal bath pH on transport of water, urea, and sodium. Compared to bladders with a serosal bath pH of 7.4 to 8.0, reducing the serosal bath pH to 6.8 led to a 60% fall in ADH-stimulated osmotic water flow, without decreasing the permeability of urea. Raising the serosal pH to 9.5 had the opposite effect: urea permeability was inhibited by 40% without altering water flow. Exogenous cyclic AMP-stimulated water and urea permeabilities were not dissociated, but were changed in the same direction by alterations in serosal pH: serosal acidification enhanced the effect of exogenous cyclic AMP on both urea and water, whereas the cyclic AMP effect on both was diminished by serosal alkalinization. This was especially marked for urea, suggesting that an alteration in the urea response to cyclic AMP may be particularly important in defining vasopressin-stimulated urea permeability as the serosal bath pH is altered. Mucosal acidification increased short circuit current but decreased both the urea and water response to ADH and 8-bromo-cyclic AMP. The response to cyclic AMP was less consistent. Mucosal alkalinization did not cause significant changes in either basal or stimulated transport. The data demonstrate distinct and separable effects of bath pH alterations on each of the transport systems examined.

Effect of metabolic inhibitors on vasopressin-stimulated transport systems in the toad bladder

Vasopressin increases the permeability of receptor cells to water and, in tissues such as toad bladder, to solutes such as urea. While cyclic AMP appears to play a major role in mediating the effects of vasopressin, there is evidence that activation of the water permeability system and the urea permeability system involves separate pathways. In the present study, we have shown that inhibitors of oxidative metabolism (rotenone, dinitrophenol, and methylene blue) selectively inhibit either vasopressin-stimulated water flow or vasopressin-stimulated urea transport. There was no inhibition, however, when exogenous cyclic AMP was substituted for vasopressin, and little to no inhibition when the potent analogue 8-bromoadenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (8-Br-cAMP) was employed. Rotenone had no effect on adenylate cyclase activity or cyclic AMP levels within the cell; dinitrophenol decreased adenylate cyclase activity minimally. Additional studies with vinblastine and nocodazole, inhibitors of microtubule assembly, demonstrated an inhibition of vasopressin and cyclic AMP-stimulated water flow but showed no effect on urea transport. We would conclude that water and urea transport, as examples of hormone-stimulated processes, have different links to cell metabolism, and that in addition to cyclic AMP, a non-nucleotide pathway may be involved in the action of vasopressin.

Urea transport in the dogfish kidney

There is increasing evidence that urea movement across many epithelia involves more than passive diffusion. Of particular interest is the observation that urea transport across the erythrocyte membrane and across the vasopressin-stimulated urinary bladder of the toad occurs by facilitated diffusion, and can be selectively inhibited by phloretin and chromate. These inhibitory agents have been employed in studies of renal urea reabsorption by the spiny dogfish Squalus acanthias. Both agents inhibit urea reabsorption; the effect of chromate is of particular interest, since it blocks urea reabsorption to a proportionately greater extent than sodium reabsorption, and does so irreversibly.