Role of basolateral Na(+)-K(+)-Cl- cotransport in HCl secretion by amphibian gastric mucosa

In amphibians and mammals, luminal H+ secretion by the stomach requires Cl-. It is widely accepted that a basolateral Cl-/HCO3- exchanger in the acid-secreting oxyntic cell restores the Cl- deficit resulting from apical HCl secretion. In this study, we used reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to generate a 1,200-bp fragment specific to a basolateral isoform of the Na(+)-K(+)-Cl- cotransporter in the gastric fundus of Necturus maculosus. By Northern analysis, we observed that gastric mucosa expresses greater than fivefold higher levels of mRNA encoding this cotransporter than any other tissue in the gastrointestinal tract. Feeding results in > 100% increases in mRNA levels in acid-secreting fundic mucosa but does not alter mRNA levels in the neighboring and non-acid-secreting antral mucosa or duodenum. Flux measurements using in vitro fundic mucosae indicate that acid secretion requires Na+ in the nutrient (i.e., serosal side) perfusate, is modulated by changes in nutrient K+ levels, and is inhibited by nutrient solutions containing 50 microM bumetanide, a recognized blocker of Na(+)-K(+)-Cl- cotransport. These findings suggest that this basolateral transporter plays a dominant and previously unsuspected role in secretion of HCl across the apical membrane.

Interstitial buffer capacity influences Na+/H+ exchange kinetics and oxyntic cell pHi in intact frog gastric mucosa

We studied the influence of interstitial buffer capacity and CO2-HCO3- on oxyntic cell intracellular pH (pHi) in intact frog gastric mucosa. Oxyntic cells in stripped gastric mucosa of Rana esculenta were loaded with the pH-sensitive dye 2',7'-bis(2-carboxyethyl)-5(6)-carboxyfluorescein, and pHi was assessed fluorometrically. In the presence of a constant serosal and luminal pH, oxyntic cell pHi was dependent on the serosal but not the luminal concentration of cell-impermeable buffer ions such as N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N'-2-ethanesulfonic acid (HEPES), tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane, N-tris(hydroxymethyl)methyl-2-aminoethanesulfonic acid, and 3-(N-morpholino)propanesulfonic acid. The stepwise increase in oxyntic cell pHi from 6.74 +/- 0.05 with 1 mM HEPES to 7.23 +/- 0.08 was almost completely inhibited by removal of serosal Na+ and by amiloride and dimethyl amiloride, suggesting that it was largely due to Na+/H+ exchange. Increasing the serosal concentration of a CO2-HCO3- buffer from 1% CO2-4 mM HCO3- to 10% CO2-40 mM HCO3- increased oxyntic cell pHi from 7.03 +/- 0.06 to 7.39 +/- 0.07. This CO2-HCO(3-)-dependent pHi increase was also Na+ and amiloride sensitive, but high HCO3- concentrations increased pHi even in the absence of Na+, K+, or Cl-, and in the presence of omeprazole, bafilomycin A1, or acetazolamide. We suggest that in intact frog gastric mucosa, cellular proton extrusion acidifies the interstitial pH immediately adjacent to the basolateral membrane of the oxyntic cells in the absence of a high interstitial buffer capacity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Ontogeny of gastric H(+)-K(+)-ATPase in suckling rabbits

Gastric mucosal homogenates were prepared from resting and stimulated stomachs of rabbits, age 3-57 days postnatal, and fractionated by differential centrifugation. Total H(+)-K(+)-adenosinetriphosphatase (ATPase) (assayed as K(+)-dependent ouabain-insensitive hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl phosphate) was low in the first 3 wk but rapidly accumulated between days 20 and 43. Specific activity rose eightfold from day 3 to a typically adult level of 2 mumol.mg-1.h-1 by day 43. The microsomal fraction (P3) was subfractionated on sucrose gradients (20, 27, and 33% steps or 10-40% continuous gradient). H(+)-K(+)-ATPase from P3 of resting stomachs was distributed bimodally on the continuous gradients, with activity mainly in the denser peak (or on the 33% sucrose step) before day 20, but accumulating mainly in the lighter peak (or in the lighter step-gradient fractions) after day 20. Throughout the age range tested, in vivo stimulation with histamine just before removal of the stomach caused a loss of most H(+)-K(+)-ATPase from P3 and an increase in H(+)-K(+)-ATPase in a lower-speed fraction P1. Thus, even in the 1st postnatal wk, when H(+)-K(+)-ATPase is low, most of the enzyme occurs in cells with histamine H2 receptors and all the intracellular mechanisms for fusion of oxyntic cell tubulovesicles (enriched in P3) with the apical membrane (enriched in P1). These studies delineate a 3-wk period of sharply accelerated synthesis of H(+)-K(+)-ATPase before weaning. Age-related changes in distribution of H(+)-K(+)-ATPase among microsomal density subfractions suggest maturational changes either in the intracellular partitioning of the enzyme or in properties of the membranes containing the enzyme.