Bile acid inhibition of P-glycoprotein-mediated transport in multidrug-resistant cells and rat liver canalicular membrane vesicles

Bile salt-stimulated phospholipid efflux mediated by ABCB4 localized in nonraft membranes

ABCB4 is necessary for the secretion of phospholipids from hepatocytes into bile and for the protection of cell membranes against bile salts. Lipid rafts are plasma membrane microdomains containing high contents of cholesterol and sphingolipids, which are separated by Triton X-100 extraction or OptiPrep gradient centrifugation. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the function of ABCB4 and lipid rafts using mouse canalicular membranes and HEK293 cells stably expressing ABCB4. ABCB4 and ABCB1 were mainly distributed in nonraft membranes. The expression of ABCB4, but not ABCB1, led to significant increases in the phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and sphingomyelin (SM) contents in nonraft membranes and further enrichment of SM and cholesterol in raft membranes. The ABCB4-mediated efflux of PC, PE, and SM was significantly stimulated by taurocholate, while the efflux of PE and SM was much less than that of PC. This ABCB4-mediated efflux was completely abolished by BODIPY-verapamil, which hardly partitioned into raft membranes. In addition, ABCB1 and ABCB4 mediated the efflux of rhodamine 123 and rhodamine 6G from nonraft membranes, which was not affected by taurocholate. We conclude that ABCB4 located in nonrafts, but not in rafts, is predominantly involved in the efflux of phospholipids and other substrates.

Inward transport of [3H]-1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium in rat isolated hepatocytes: putative involvement of a P-glycoprotein transporter

1. The liver has an important role in the detoxification of organic cations from the circulation. [3H]-1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium ([3H]-MPP+), a low molecular weight organic cation, is efficiently taken up and accumulated by rat hepatocytes through mechanisms partially unknown. 2. The aim of the present work was to characterize further the uptake of MPP+ by rat isolated hepatocytes. The putative interactions of a wide range of drugs, including inhibitors/substrates of P-glycoprotein, were studied. 3. The uptake of MPP+ was investigated in rat freshly isolated hepatocytes (incubated in Krebs-Henseleit medium with 200 nM [3H]-MPP+ for 5 min) and in the rat liver in situ (perfused with Krebs-Henseleit/BSA medium with 200 nM [3H]-MPP+ for 30 min). [3H]-MPP+ accumulation in the cells and in tissue was determined by liquid scintillation counting. 4. Verapamil (100 microM), quinidine (100 microM), amiloride (1 mM), (+)-tubocurarine (100 microM), vecuronium (45 microM), bilirubin (200 microM), progesterone (200 microM), daunomycin (100 microM), vinblastine (100 microM), cyclosporin A (100 microM) and cimetidine (100 microM) had a significant inhibitory effect on the accumulation of [3H]-MPP+ in isolated hepatocytes. Tetraethylammonium (100 microM) had no effect. 5. In the rat perfused liver, both cyclosporin A (100 microM) and verapamil (100 microM) had much less marked inhibitory effects as compared to their effects on isolated hepatocytes (0% against 35% and 45% against 96% of inhibition, respectively). 6. Inhibition of alkaline phosphatase activity by increasing or decreasing the pH of the incubation medium or by the presence of vanadate (1 mM) or homoarginine (500 microM) led to a significant increase in the accumulation of [3H]-MPP+ in isolated hepatocytes. 7. It was concluded that, in addition to the type I organic cation hepatic transporter, [3H]-MPP+ is taken up by rat hepatocytes through P-glycoprotein, a canalicular transport system that usually excretes endobiotics and xenobiotics. We proposed that the reversal of transport through P-glycoprotein may be related to the loss of efficacy of alkaline in isolated hepatocytes.