Chapter 5 Noise from Apical Potassium Ion Channels

Transepithelial potential differences and Na+ flux in isolated perfused gills of the crabChasmagnathus granulatus(Grapsidae) acclimated to hyper- and hypo-salinity

We studied the transepithelial potential difference (TEPD) and 22Na flux across isolated perfused gills (anterior pair 5 and posterior pairs 6–8) of the crab Chasmagnathus granulatus acclimated to either hypo- or hyper-osmotic conditions.

The gills of crabs acclimated to low salinity, perfused and bathed with 10 ‰ saline solutions, produced the following TEPDs (hemolymph side with respect to bath side): 0.4±0.7, –10.2±1.6, –10.8±1.3 and –6.7±1.3 mV for gills 5, 6, 7 and 8, respectively. Gills 6, 7 and 8 did not differ significantly. Reducing the saline concentration of bath and perfusate from 30 ‰ to 20 ‰ or 10 ‰ increased significantly the TEPDs of these gills. TEPDs of gill 6 (representative of posterior gills) were reduced by 69±5 % and 60±5 % after perfusion with ouabain or BaCl2 (5 mmol l–1 each), respectively. The same gill showed a net ouabain-sensitive Na+ influx of 1150±290 μequiv g–1 h–1.

Gill 6 of crabs acclimated to high salinity produced TEPDs of –1.5±0.1 and –1.3±0.09 mV after perfusion with 30 ‰ or 40 ‰ salines, respectively. Perfusion with ouabain or BaCl2 reduced TEPDs by 76±7 % and 86±4 %, respectively. A net ouabain-sensitive Na+ efflux of 2282±337 μequiv g–1 h–1 was recorded in gill 6 perfused with 38 ‰ saline.

Intracellular pH shifts in cultured kidney (A6) cells: effects on apical Na+ transport

We report, for the epithelial Na+ channel (ENaC) in A6 cells, the modulation by cell pH (pHc) of the transepithelial Na+ current (INa), the current through the individual Na+ channel (i), the open Na+ channel density (No), and the kinetic parameters of the relationship between I(Na) and the apical Na+ concentration. The i and N) were evaluated from the Lorentzian INa noise induced by the apical Na+ channel blocker 6-chloro-3, 5-diaminopyrazine-2-carboxamide. pHc shifts were induced, under strict and volume-controlled experimental conditions, by apical/basolateral NH4Cl pulses or basolateral arrest of the Na+/H+ exchanger (Na+ removal; block by ethylisopropylamiloride) and were measured with the pH-sensitive probe 2',7'-bis(2-carboxyethyl)-5(6)-carboxyfluorescein. The changes in pHc were positively correlated to changes in INa and the apically dominated transepithelial conductance. The sole pHc-sensitive parameter underlying INa was No. Only the saturation value of the INa kinetics was subject to changes in pHc. pHc-dependent changes in No may be caused by influencing Po, the ENaC open probability, or/and the total channel number, NT = No/Po.

K+ current stimulation by Cl- in the midgut epithelium of tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta). II. Analysis of Ba(2+)-induced K+ channel conduction noise

Chloride-stimulated K+ secretion by Manduca sexta midgut (5th-instar larvae) was measured as K(+)-carried short-circuit current of the tissue mounted in an Ussing chamber. "Microscopic" parameters, such as single-channel current and channel density for the rate-determining passive transport step across the basolateral goblet cell membrane (i.e. K+ channels), were estimated by means of current-fluctuation analysis of the K+ channel blockade by haemolymph-side Ba2+ ions. Ba2+ was equally effective with Cl- or gluconate (Glu-) as the principal ambient anion. The Ba(2+)-induced K+ channel conduction noise is reflected by a Lorentzian, or relaxation, noise component in the power spectrum of the K+ current fluctuations. A reduced Lorentzian plateau value, but an unchanged corner frequency, were observed when Cl- was replaced by Glu-. The results from the analysis of a "two-state" model of K+ channel block by Ba2+, with respect to the anion-replacement effects, suggest that the observed changes in K+ current and Lorentzian plateau value mirror a complex change of the underlying parameters: Cl- omission reduces single channel current but increases channel density so that the product of single channel current and channel density is smaller in Glu- than in Cl-. It seems likely that basolateral K+ channels (1) are subject to anionic gating ligands, and (2) depend on anions with respect to the rate of K+ transfer through an open K+ channel.