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We have recently reported that type A intercalated cells of the collecting duct secrete Na+by a mechanism coupling the basolateral type 1 Na+-K+-2Cl−cotransporter with apical type 2 H+-K+-ATPase (HKA2) functioning under its Na+/K+exchange mode. The first aim of the present study was to evaluate whether this secretory pathway is a target of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP). Despite hyperaldosteronemia, metabolic acidosis is not associated with Na+retention. The second aim of the present study was to evaluate whether ANP-induced stimulation of Na+secretion by type A intercalated cells might account for mineralocorticoid escape during metabolic acidosis. In Xenopusoocytes expressing HKA2, cGMP, the second messenger of ANP, increased the membrane expression, activity, and Na+-transporting rate of HKA2. Feeding mice with a NH4Cl-enriched diet increased urinary excretion of aldosterone and induced a transient Na+retention that reversed within 3 days. At that time, expression of ANP mRNA in the collecting duct and urinary excretion of cGMP were increased. Reversion of Na+retention was prevented by treatment with an inhibitor of ANP receptors and was absent in HKA2-null mice. In conclusion, paracrine stimulation of HKA2 by ANP is responsible for the escape of the Na+-retaining effect of aldosterone during metabolic acidosis.

Albuminuria is strongly associated with progressive kidney tubulo-interstitial damage and chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression. In proteinuric nephropathies, albumin reabsorption by the proximal tubule is saturated and the distal nephron is exposed to high concentrations of luminal albumin that may produce adverse effects. Since proximal tubular cells exposed to albuminuria exhibit a proinflammatory and profibrotic response, we assessed the effect of albuminuria in the collecting duct (CD). With the use of kidney sections and isolated cortical CDs (CCDs) from puromycin-aminonucleoside-induced nephrotic rats (PAN rats) exhibiting proteinuria, immunofluorescence microscopy revealed internalized albumin in CD cells. In these proteinuric rats, increased expression levels of cytokines and profibrotic signaling markers were detected in isolated CCDs and bands of inflammatory fibrosis could be observed around CDs. Albumin endocytosis was confirmed by FITC-albumin uptake in cultured murine CCD (mCCDcl1) cells. Exposure of mCCDcl1cells to albumin induced NF-κB activation as assessed by luciferase reporter gene assay, nuclear translocation of NF-κB p65 subunit, and increased NF-κB target gene expression. Moreover, albuminuria-like condition results in transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1) overexpression and the upregulation of profibrotic signaling markers such as Snail or vimentin via an autocrine mechanism. In mCCDcl1cells, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL)/lipocalin-2/24p3 receptor (24p3R) mediates albumin endocytosis as well as activation of NF-κB and TGF-β1signaling pathways. Therefore, CD may play a key role in initiation and/or progression of inflammation and fibrosis in response to proteinuria.

The sodium-independent anion exchanger pendrin is expressed in several tissues including the kidney cortical collecting duct (CCD), where it acts as a chloride/bicarbonate exchanger and has been shown to participate in the regulation of acid-base homeostasis and blood pressure. The renal sympathetic nervous system is known to play a key role in the development of salt-induced hypertension. This study aimed to determine whether pendrin may partly mediate the effects of β adrenergic receptors (β-AR) on renal salt handling. We investigated the regulation of pendrin activity by the cAMP/protein kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway, both in vitro in opossum kidney proximal (OKP) cells stably transfected with pendrin cDNA and ex vivo in isolated microperfused CCDs stimulated by isoproterenol, a β-AR agonist. We found that stimulation of the cAMP/PKA pathway in OKP cells increased the amount of pendrin at the cell surface as well as its transport activity. These effects stemmed from increased exocytosis of pendrin and were associated with its phosphorylation. Furthermore, cAMP effects on the membrane expression and activity of pendrin were abolished by mutating the serine 49 located in the intracellular N-terminal domain of pendrin. Finally, we showed that isoproterenol increases pendrin trafficking to the apical membrane as well as the reabsorption of both Cl−and Na+in microperfused CCDs. All together, our results strongly suggest that pendrin activation by the cAMP/PKA pathway underlies isoproterenol-induced stimulation of NaCl reabsorption in the kidney collecting duct, a mechanism likely involved in the sodium-retaining effect of β-adrenergic agonists.

Les mutations inactivatrices du gène de la pendrine sont responsables d’une pathologie associant des troubles de la thyroïde et de l’oreille interne. Cependant, il est rapidement apparu après sa découverte que l’échangeur d’anions codé par ce gène joue un rôle essentiel dans le rein. Cette brève revue décrit l’évolution de nos connaissances concernant ces différents rôles, jusqu’à la très récente découverte de l’implication de la pendrine dans la régulation de l’homéostasie du sodium et de la pression artérielle.

Through the activity of macrophage-specific matrix metalloproteinase-12 (MMP-12), we found that macrophages dampen the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced influx of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs)—thus providing a new mechanism for the termination of PMN recruitment in acute inflammation. MMP-12 specifically cleaves human ELR+ CXC chemokines (CXCL1, -2, -3, -5, and -8) at E-LR, the critical receptor-binding motif or, for CXCL6, carboxyl-terminal to it. Murine (m) MMP-12 also cleaves mCXCL1, -2, and -3 at E-LR. MMP-12-cleaved mCXCL2 (macrophage-inflammatory protein-2 [MIP-2]) and mCXCL3 (dendritic cell inflammatory protein-1 [DCIP-1]) lost chemotactic activity. Furthermore, MMP-12 processed and inactivated monocyte chemotactic proteins CCL2, -7, -8, and -13 at position 4-5 generating CCR antagonists. Indeed, PMNs and macrophages in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were significantly increased 72 hours after intranasal instillation of LPS in Mmp12−/− mice compared with wild type. Specificity occurred at 2 levels. Macrophage MMP-1 and MMP-9 did not cleave in the ELR motif. Second, unlike human ELR+CXC chemokines, mCXCL5 (LPS-induced CXC chemokine [LIX]) was not inactivated. Rather, mMMP-12 cleavage at Ser4-Val5 activated the chemokine, promoting enhanced PMN early infiltration in wild-type mice compared with Mmp12−/− mice 8 hours after LPS challenge in air pouches. We propose that the macrophage, specifically through MMP-12, assists in orchestrating the regulation of acute inflammatory responses by precise proteolysis of ELR+CXC and CC chemokines.

Through the activity of macrophage-specific matrix metalloproteinase-12 (MMP-12), we found that macrophages dampen the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced influx of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs)—thus providing a new mechanism for the termination of PMN recruitment in acute inflammation. MMP-12 specifically cleaves human ELR+CXC chemokines (CXCL1, -2, -3, -5, and -8) at E-LR, the critical receptor-binding motif or, for CXCL6, carboxyl-terminal to it. Murine (m) MMP-12 also cleaves mCXCL1, -2, and -3 at E-LR. MMP-12-cleaved mCXCL2 (macrophage-inflammatory protein-2 [MIP-2]) and mCXCL3 (dendritic cell inflammatory protein-1 [DCIP-1]) lost chemotactic activity. Furthermore, MMP-12 processed and inactivated monocyte chemotactic proteins CCL2, -7, -8, and -13 at position 4-5 generating CCR antagonists. Indeed, PMNs and macrophages in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were significantly increased 72 hours after intranasal instillation of LPS in Mmp12−/−mice compared with wild type. Specificity occurred at 2 levels. Macrophage MMP-1 and MMP-9 did not cleave in the ELR motif. Second, unlike human ELR+CXC chemokines, mCXCL5 (LPS-induced CXC chemokine [LIX]) was not inactivated. Rather, mMMP-12 cleavage at Ser4-Val5 activated the chemokine, promoting enhanced PMN early infiltration in wild-type mice compared with Mmp12−/−mice 8 hours after LPS challenge in air pouches. We propose that the macrophage, specifically through MMP-12, assists in orchestrating the regulation of acute inflammatory responses by precise proteolysis of ELR+CXC and CC chemokines.

Post-translational modifications enable extra layers of control of the proteome, and perhaps the most important is proteolysis, a major irreversible modification affecting every protein. The intersection of the protease web with a proteome sculpts that proteome, dynamically modifying its state and function. Protease expression is distorted in cancer, so perturbing signaling pathways and the secretome of the tumor and reactive stromal cells. Indeed many cancer biomarkers are stable proteolytic fragments. It is crucial to determine which proteases contribute to the pathology versustheir roles in homeostasis and in mitigating cancer. Thus the full substrate repertoire of a protease, termed the substrate degradome, must be deciphered to define protease function and to identify drug targets. Degradomics has been used to identify many substrates of matrix metalloproteinases that are important proteases in cancer. Here we review recent degradomics technologies that allow for the broadly applicable identification and quantification of proteases (the protease degradome) and their activity state, substrates, and interactors. Quantitative proteomics using stable isotope labeling, such as ICAT, isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ), and stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC), can reveal protease substrates by taking advantage of the natural compartmentalization of membrane proteins that are shed into the extracellular space. Identifying the actual cleavage sites in a complex proteome relies on positional proteomics and utilizes selection strategies to enrich for protease-generated neo-N termini of proteins. In so doing, important functional information is generated. Finally protease substrates and interactors can be identified by interactomics based on affinity purification of protease complexes using exosite scanning and inactive catalytic domain capture strategies followed by mass spectrometry analysis. At the global level, the N terminome analysis of whole communities of proteases in tissues and organs in vivoprovides a full scale understanding of the protease web and the web-sculpted proteome, so defining metadegradomics.

Kidneys are essential for acid-base homeostasis, especially when organisms cope with changes in acid or base dietary intake. Because collecting ducts constitute the final site for regulating urine acid-base balance, we undertook to identify the gene network involved in acid-base transport and regulation in the mouse outer medullary collecting duct (OMCD). For this purpose, we combined kidney functional studies and quantitative analysis of gene expression in OMCDs, by transcriptome and candidate gene approaches, during metabolic acidosis. Furthermore, to better delineate the set of genes concerned with acid-base disturbance, the OMCD transcriptome of acidotic mice was compared with that of both normal mice and mice undergoing an adaptative response through potassium depletion. Metabolic acidosis, achieved through an NH4Cl-supplemented diet for 3 days, not only induced acid secretion but also stimulated the aldosterone and vasopressin systems and triggered cell proliferation. Accordingly, metabolic acidosis increased the expression of genes involved in acid-base transport, sodium transport, water transport, and cell proliferation. In particular, >25 transcripts encoding proteins involved in urine acidification (subunits of H-ATPase, kidney anion exchanger, chloride channel Clcka, carbonic anhydrase-2, aldolase) were co-regulated during acidosis. These transcripts, which cooperate to achieve a similar function and are co-regulated during acidosis, constitute a functional unit that we propose to call a “regulon”.

Plasticity of mouse renal collecting duct in response to potassium depletion. —Renal collecting ducts are the main sites for regulation of whole body potassium balance. Changes in dietary intake of potassium induce pleiotropic adaptations of collecting duct cells, which include alterations of ion and water transport properties along with an hypertrophic response. To study the pleiotropic adaptation of the outer medullary collecting duct (OMCD) to dietary potassium depletion, we combined functional studies of renal function (ion, water, and acid/base handling), analysis of OMCD hypertrophy (electron microscopy) and hyperplasia (PCNA labeling), and large scale analysis of gene expression (transcriptome analysis). The transcriptome of OMCD was compared in mice fed either a normal or a potassium-depleted diet for 3 days using serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) adapted for downsized extracts. SAGE is based on the generation of transcript-specific tag libraries. Approximately 20,000 tags corresponding to 10,000 different molecular species were sequenced in each library. Among the 186 tags differentially expressed (P< 0.05) between the two libraries, 120 were overexpressed and 66 were downregulated. The SAGE expression profile obtained in the control library was representative of different functional classes of proteins and of the two cell types (principal and α-intercalated cells) constituting the OMCD. Combined with gene expression analysis, results of functional and morphological studies allowed us to identify candidate genes for distinct physiological processes modified by potassium depletion: sodium, potassium, and water handling, hyperplasia and hypertrophy. Finally, comparison of mouse and human OMCD transcriptomes allowed us to address the question of the relevance of the mouse as a model for human physiology and pathophysiology.

ANG II controls the vascular tone of pre- and postglomerular arterioles, and thereby glomerular filtration, through binding to either AT1A, AT1B, or AT2receptors. AT1receptors, which are coupled to intracellular Ca2+signaling, have vasoconstricting effects, whereas AT2receptors, whose signaling mechanism is unknown, induce vasodilatation. The angiotensin receptors have been characterized in afferent arterioles, which express the three types of receptors, but not in efferent arterioles. Two subpopulations of juxtamedullary efferent arterioles, muscular ones which terminate as vasa rectae and thin ones which terminate as peritubular capillaries, have been described. They display functional heterogeneity with regard to the ANG II response. To evaluate whether these differences are associated with differential expression of ANG II receptors, we examined the expression pattern of AT1A, AT1B, and AT2receptor mRNAs by RT-PCR in these arterioles and studied the effect of valsartan, a specific AT1-receptor antagonist. Results indicate that muscular arterioles express AT1A, AT1B, and AT2receptors, whereas thin arterioles only express the AT1Aand AT2types, and at a much lower level. Valsartan fully inhibited ANG II-induced increases in intracellular Ca2+in both arteriolar types, but with different kinetics. In muscular arterioles, inhibition was monoexponential, whereas it displayed a marked positive cooperativity in thin arterioles. Finally, the apparent affinity for valsartan was higher in muscular than in thin arterioles. In conclusion, this study further documents the differences between muscular and thin efferent arterioles with regard to ANG II signalization in the rat kidney.

In the mammalian kidney the fine control of Na+reabsorption takes place in collecting duct principal cells where basolateral Na,K-ATPase provides the driving force for vectorial Na+transport. In the cortical collecting duct (CCD), a rise in intracellular Na+concentration ([Na+]i) was shown to increase Na,K-ATPase activity and the number of ouabain binding sites, but the mechanism responsible for this event has not yet been elucidated. A rise in [Na+]i caused by incubation with the Na+ionophore nystatin, increased Na,K-ATPase activity and cell surface expression to the same extent in isolated rat CCD. In cultured mouse mpkCCDcl4collecting duct cells, increasing [Na+]i either by cell membrane permeabilization with amphotericin B or nystatin, or by incubating cells in a K+-free medium, also increased Na,K-ATPase cell surface expression. The [Na+]i-dependent increase in Na,K-ATPase cell-surface expression was prevented by PKA inhibitors H89 and PKI. Moreover, the effects of [Na+]i and cAMP were not additive. However, [Na+]i-dependent activation of PKA was not associated with an increase in cellular cAMP but was prevented by inhibiting the proteasome. These findings suggest that Na,K-ATPase may be recruited to the cell membrane following an increase in [Na+]i through cAMP-independent PKA activation that is itself dependent on proteasomal activity.

Isoproterenol stimulates H-K-ATPase activity in rat cortical collecting duct β-intercalated cells through a PKA-dependent pathway. This study aimed at determining the signaling pathway underlying this effect. H-K-ATPase activity was determined in microdissected collecting ducts preincubated with or without specific inhibitors or antibodies against intracellular signaling proteins. Transient cell membrane permeabilization with streptolysin-O allowed intracellular access to antibodies. Isoproterenol increased phosphorylation of ERK in a PKA-dependent manner, and inhibition of the ERK phosphorylation prevented the stimulation of H-K-ATPase. Antibodies against the monomeric G protein Ras or the kinase Raf-1 curtailed the stimulation of H-K-ATPase by isoproterenol, whereas antibodies against the related proteins Rap-1 and B-Raf had no effect. Pertussis toxin and inhibition of tyrosine kinases with genistein also curtailed isoproterenol-induced stimulation of H-K-ATPase. It is proposed that activation of PKA by isoproterenol induces the phosphorylation of β-adrenergic receptors and the switch from Gsto Gicoupling. In turn, βγ-subunits released from Giwould activate a tyrosine kinase-Ras-Raf-1 pathway, leading to the activation of ERK1/2 and of H-K-ATPase.

The collecting duct is the site of final Na reabsorption according to Na balance requirements. Using isolated rat cortical collecting ducts (CCD) and mpkCCDcl4cells, a mouse cortical collecting duct cell line, we have studied the physiological control of Na,K-ATPase, the key enzyme that energizes Na reabsorption. Aldosterone, a major regulator of Na transport by the collecting duct, stimulates Na,K-ATPase activity through both recruitment of intracellular pumps and increased total amounts of Na pump subunits. This effect is observed after a lag time of 1 hour and is independent of Na entry through ENaC, but requires de novotranscription and translation. Vasopressin and cAMP, its second messenger, stimulate Na,K-ATPase activity within minutes through translocation of Na pumps from a brefeldin A-sensitive intracellular pool to the plasma membrane. Dysregulation of collecting duct Na,K-ATPase activity is at least in part responsible of the Na retention observed in nephritic syndrome. In this setting, Na,K-ATPase activity and subunit synthesis are specifically increased in CCD. In conclusion, aldosterone, vasopressin, and intracellular Na control the cell surface expression of Na,K-ATPase and translocation from intracellular stores is a major mechanism of regulation of Na,K-ATPase activity in collecting duct principal cells.

This study aimed at determining the signaling pathways underlying calcitonin- and isoproterenol-induced stimulation of H,K-ATPase in rat renal collecting duct. H,K-ATPase activity was determined in microdissected collecting ducts preincubated with or without either specific inhibitors or antibodies directed against intracellular signaling proteins. Transient cell membrane permeabilization with streptolysin-O allowed intracellular access of antibodies. The stimulation of H,K-ATPase by calcitonin and isoproterenol was mimicked by cAMP analogues and was abolished by adenylyl cyclase inhibition. Protein kinase A inhibition abolished isoproterenol but not calcitonin effect on H,K-ATPase. Calcitonin increased the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in a protein kinase A-independent manner, and the inhibition of the ERK phosphorylation prevented the stimulation of H,K-ATPase by calcitonin. Antibodies directed against either the cAMP-activated guanine-nucleotide exchange factor Epac I, the monomeric G protein Rap-1 or the kinase Raf-B, curtailed the stimulation of H,K-ATPase by calcitonin, whereas antibodies against the related monomeric G protein Ras or kinase Raf-1 had no effect. In conclusion, calcitonin stimulates H,K-ATPase through a cAMP/Epac I/Rap-1/Raf-B/ERK cascade.

Cyclic AMP (cAMP) stimulates the transport of Na+and Na,K-ATPase activity in the renal cortical collecting duct (CCD). The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism whereby cAMP stimulates the Na,K-ATPase activity in microdissected rat CCDs and cultured mouse mpkCCDc14collecting duct cells. db-cAMP (10−3M) stimulated by 2-fold the activity of Na,K-ATPase from rat CCDs as well as the ouabain-sensitive component of 86Rb+uptake by rat CCDs (1.7-fold) and cultured mouse CCD cells (1.5-fold). Pretreatment of rat CCDs with saponin increased the total Na,K-ATPase activity without further stimulation by db-cAMP. Western blotting performed after a biotinylation procedure revealed that db-cAMP increased the amount of Na,K-ATPase at the cell surface in both intact rat CCDs (1.7-fold) and cultured cells (1.3-fold), and that this increase was not related to changes in Na,K-ATPase internalization. Brefeldin A and low temperature (20°C) prevented both the db-cAMP-dependent increase in cell surface expression and activity of Na,K-ATPase in both intact rat CCDs and cultured cells. Pretreatment with the intracellular Ca2+chelator bis-(o-aminophenoxy)-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid also blunted the increment in cell surface expression and activity of Na,K-ATPase caused by db-cAMP. In conclusion, these results strongly suggest that the cAMP-dependent stimulation of Na,K-ATPase activity in CCD results from the translocation of active pump units from an intracellular compartment to the plasma membrane.

Rat collecting ducts exhibit type I or type III K+-ATPase activities when animals are fed a normal (NK) or a K+-depleted diet (LK). This study aimed at determining functionally the cell origin of these two K+-ATPases. For this purpose, we searched for an effect on K+-ATPases of hormones that trigger cAMP production in a cell-specific fashion. The effects of 1-deamino-8-d-arginine vasopressin (dD-AVP), calcitonin, and isoproterenol in principal cells, α-intercalated cells, and β-intercalated cells of cortical collecting duct (CCD), respectively, and of dD-AVP and glucagon in principal and α-intercalated cells of outer medullary collecting duct (OMCD), respectively, were examined. In CCDs, K+-ATPase was stimulated by calcitonin and isoproterenol in NK rats (type I K+-ATPase) and by dD-AVP in LK rats (type III K+-ATPase). In OMCDs, dD-AVP and glucagon stimulated type III but not type I K+-ATPase. These hormone effects were mimicked by the cAMP-permeant analog dibutyryl-cAMP. In conclusion, in NK rats, cAMP stimulates type I K+-ATPase activity in α- and β-intercalated CCD cells, whereas in LK rats it stimulates type III K+-ATPase in principal cells of both CCD and OMCD and in OMCD intercalated cells.

1. Hyperinsulinaemia is considered to be a pathogenic factor for human and experimental hypertension. Thus, the contribution of the known insulin-stimulated tubular sodium reabsorption to this aetiological process has to be discussed. 2. Rats fed a fructose-enriched diet develop hyperinsulinaemia and hypertension, providing a model for studying the regulation of the tubular sodium handling and its possible relationship to hypertension. For this purpose, the sodium transport capacity of isolated nephron segments from control rats and from rats fed a fructose-enriched diet was investigated by measurement of ouabain-sensitive 86Rb uptake and of the hydrolytic activity of Na,K-ATPase. The number and affinity of insulin receptors were estimated from the specific [125I]insulin binding. 3. In rats fed a fructose-enriched diet, mild hypertension developed during the 14-day fructose diet. There were no differences, along the nephron, in basal 86Rb uptakes and ATPase activities between control rats and fructose-induced hypertensive rats. In control rats, insulin stimulated 86Rb uptake in the proximal convoluted tubule and cortical collecting duct, but exhibited an inhibitory action in the medullary thick ascending limb. In contrast, in fructose-induced hypertensive rats, 86Rb influx remained unresponsive to insulin concentrations ranging from 10−11 to 10−7 mol/l in the proximal convoluted tubule and cortical collecting duct. In the medullary thick ascending limb, the threshold of inhibition was displaced from 10−11 mol/l up to 10−7 mol/l. Insulin binding to the proximal convoluted tubule, medullary thick ascending limb and collecting duct were similar in control rats and in rats fed a fructose-enriched diet. 4. We conclude that hypertension developed in rats fed a fructose-enriched diet regardless of change in renal sodium handling since (1) the basal tubular sodium reabsorption capacity of the nephron remained unchanged and (2) the response of the tubular cation transport to insulin was abolished. These results strongly argue against the participation of insulin-mediated tubular sodium retention in the pathogenesis of hypertension and suggest that insulin-related mechanisms modulate the blood vessel reactivity.

The rat nephron displays two ouabain-sensitive K-ATPases: one, which is present in proximal tubules and thick ascending limbs of normal rats, is specifically activated by K+and is down-regulated by K+depletion, whereas the other one appears in collecting ducts of K+-depleted rats and is activated by either Na+or K+. To determine which of these two ATPases is similar to colonic-type H,K-ATPase, we quantitated by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) the mRNAs encoding the colonic H,K-ATPase α subunit in microdissected nephron segments. In normal rats, statistically significant amounts of colonic H,K-ATPase mRNAs were detected exclusively in cortical thick ascending limbs and cortical collecting ducts (200–500 copies/mm). Because these levels of expression were low (1–1.2 copies/target cell), they probably have no physiological relevance. In rats fed a K+-depleted diet for 2 weeks, expression of colonic H,K-ATPase was markedly enhanced in cortical and medullary collecting ducts (5000–12,000 copies/mm or 30–40 copies per cell), whereas it remained low in all other nephron segments. Thus, colonic H,K-ATPase α subunit is specifically expressed in cortical and outer medullary collecting ducts of K+-depleted rats where it likely accounts for the ouabain-sensitive K-ATPase activity.

The activity of renal Na-K-ATPase was compared in hypertension-prone (SBH) and hypertension-resistant (SBN) Sabra rats on regular sodium intake and 2–3 weeks after a high sodium diet. ATPase activity was determined in single nephron segments by a micromethod. The activity profile was found to be similar in the two substrains on both regimens. Following high sodium intake there was a significant increment of Na-K-ATPase activity which was limited to the medullary thick ascending limb in the two substrains. The results clearly indicate a lack of relationship between renal Na-K-ATPase activity and proneness or resistance to hypertension in this experimental model.

Heterozygous mutations in HNF1B cause the complex syndrome renal cysts and diabetes (RCAD), characterized by developmental abnormalities of the kidneys, genital tracts and pancreas, and a variety of renal, pancreas and liver dysfunctions. The pathogenesis underlying this syndrome remains unclear as mice with heterozygous null mutations have no phenotype, while constitutive/conditional Hnf1b ablation leads to more severe phenotypes. We generated a novel mouse model carrying an identified human mutation at the intron-2 splice donor site. Unlike heterozygous mice previously characterized, mice heterozygous for the splicing mutation exhibited decreased HNF1B protein levels and bilateral renal cysts from embryonic day 15, originated from glomeruli, early proximal tubules (PTs) and intermediate nephron segments, concurrently with delayed PT differentiation, hydronephrosis and rare genital tract anomalies. Consistently, mRNA sequencing showed that most downregulated genes in embryonic kidneys were primarily expressed in early PTs and the loop of Henle and involved in ion/drug transport, organic acid and lipid metabolic processes, while the expression of previously identified targets upon Hnf1b ablation, including cystic disease genes, was weakly or not affected. Postnatal analyses revealed renal abnormalities, ranging from glomerular cysts to hydronephrosis and, rarely, multicystic dysplasia. Urinary proteomics uncovered a particular profile predictive of progressive decline in kidney function and fibrosis, and displayed common features with a recently reported urine proteome in an RCAD pediatric cohort. Altogether, our results show that reduced HNF1B levels lead to developmental disease phenotypes associated with the deregulation of a subset of HNF1B targets. They further suggest that this model represents a unique clinical/pathological viable model of the RCAD disease.

Abstract:  Under normal conditions, the rat collecting duct displays an H,K-ATPase activity with kinetic and pharmacological properties very close to those of the gastric H,K-ATPase. However, whether the collecting duct H,K-ATPase and the gastric enzyme are identical remains controversial. Therefore, we re-evaluated the expression of the mRNAs encoding the gastric H,K-ATPase α subunit in the rat nephron. For this purpose, gastric H,K-ATPase mRNAs were quantitated by RT-PCR at the level of microdissected nephron segments using known amounts of gastric H,K-ATPase cRNA as external standards. Results indicate that gastric H,K-ATPase mRNAs are undetectable (<1 copy per cell) in the glomerulus and along the proximal tubule, thick ascending limb of Henle’s loop and collecting duct, although a faint expression (≈ 400 copies per μg total RNA) is measurable in whole–kidney preparations. Gastric H,K-ATPase mRNA is also absent along the nephron of K-depleted rats and of rats with chronic metabolic acidosis and alkalosis. Taken with other data from the literature, these results suggest that the collecting duct of normal rats might express an H,K-ATPase similar, but not identical, to the gastric isoform.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles published in the September 1, 2012 issue including "L'étoffe d'un premier ministre," by Noémi Mercier, "L'histoire entre gare," by Nicolas Dickner, and "Les années Charest."

Proteolytic processing modifies the pleiotropic functions of many large, complex, and modular proteins and can generate cleavage products with new biological activity. The identification of exact proteolytic cleavage sites in the extracellular matrix laminins, fibronectin, and other extracellular matrix proteins is not only important for understanding protein turnover but is needed for the identification of new bioactive cleavage products. Several such products have recently been recognized that are suggested to play important cellular regulatory roles in processes, including angiogenesis. However, identifying multiple cleavage sites in extracellular matrix proteins and other large proteins is challenging as N-terminal Edman sequencing of multiple and often closely spaced cleavage fragments on SDS-PAGE gels is difficult, thus limiting throughput and coverage. We developed a new liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry approach we call amino-terminal oriented mass spectrometry of substrates (ATOMS) for the N-terminal identification of protein cleavage fragments in solution. ATOMS utilizes efficient and low cost dimethylation isotopic labeling of original N-terminal and proteolytically generated N termini of protein cleavage fragments followed by quantitative tandem mass spectrometry analysis. Being a peptide-centric approach, ATOMS is not dependent on the SDS-PAGE resolution limits for protein fragments of similar mass. We demonstrate that ATOMS reliably identifies multiple proteolytic sites per reaction in complex proteins. Fifty-five neutrophil elastase cleavage sites were identified in laminin-1 and fibronectin-1 with 34 more identified by matrix metalloproteinase cleavage. Hence, our degradomics approach offers a complimentary alternative to Edman sequencing with broad applicability in identifying N termini such as cleavage sites in complex high molecular weight extracellular matrix proteins after in vitro cleavage assays. ATOMS can therefore be useful in identifying new cleavage products of extracellular matrix proteins cleaved by proteases in pathology for bioactivity screening.