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In separated outer medullary collecting duct (MCD) cells, the time course of binding of the fluorescent stilbene anion exchange inhibitor, DBDS (4,4'-dibenzamido-2,2'-stilbene disulfonate), to the MCD cell analog of band 3, the red blood cell (rbc) anion exchange protein, can be measured by the stopped-flow method and the reaction time constant, tau TDBDS, can be used to report on the conformational state of the band 3 analog. In order to validate the method we have now shown that the ID50D,DBDS,MCD (0.5 +/- 0.1 microM) for the H2-DIDS (4,4'-diisothiocyano-2,2'-dihydrostilbene disulfonate) inhibition of tau DBDS is in agreement with the ID50,Cl-MCD (0.94 +/- 0.07 microM) for H2-DIDS inhibition of MCD cell Cl- flux, thus relating tau DBDS directly to anion exchange. The specific cardiac glycoside cation transport inhibitor, ouabain, not only modulates DBDS binding kinetics, but also increases the time constant for Cl- exchange by a factor of two, from tau Cl- = 0.30 +/- 0.02 sec to 0.56 +/- 0.06 sec (30 mM NaHCO3). The ID50,DBDS,MCD for the ouabain effect on DBDS binding kinetics is 0.003 +/- 0.001 microM, so that binding is about an order of magnitude tighter than that for inhibition of rbc K+ flux (KI,K+,rbc = 0.017 microM). These experiments indicate that the Na+,K+-ATPase, required to maintain cation gradients across the MCD cell membrane, is close enough to the band 3 analog that conformational information can be exchanged. Cytochalasin E (CE), which binds to the spectrin/actin complex in rbc and other cells. modulates DBDS binding kinetics with a physiological ID50,DBDS,MCD (0.076 +/- 0.005 microM); 2 microM CE also more than doubles the Cl- exchange time constant from 0.20 +/- 0.04 sec to 0.50 +/- 0.08 sec (30 mM NaHCO3). These experiments indicate that conformational information can also be exchanged between the MCD cell band 3 analog and the MCD cell cytoskeleton.

A membrane protein that is immunochemically similar to the red cell anion exchange protein, band 3, has been identified on the basolateral face of the outer medullary collecting duct (MCD) cells in rabbit kidney. In freshly prepared separated rabbit MCD cells, M.L. Zeidel, P. Silva and J.L. Seifter (J. Clin. Invest. 77:1682-1688, 1986) found that C1-/HCO-3 exchange was inhibited by the stilbene anion exchange inhibitor, DIDS (4,4'-diisothiocyano-2,2'-disulfonic stilbene), with a K1 similar to that for the red cell. We have measured the binding affinities of a fluorescent stilbene inhibitor, DBDS (4,4'-dibenzamido-2,2'-disulfonic stilbene), to MCD cells in 28.5 mM citrate and have characterized both a high-affinity site (Ks1 = 93 +/- 24 nM) and a lower affinity site (Ks2 = 430 +/- 260 nM), which are closely similar to values for the red cell of 110 +/- 51 nM for the high-affinity site and 980 +/- 200 nM for the lower affinity site (A.S. Verkman, J.A. Dix & A.K. Solomon, J. Gen. Physiol. 81:421-449, 1983). When Cl- replaces citrate in the buffer, the two sites collapse into a single one with Ks1 = 1500 +/- 400 nM, similar to the single Ks1 = 1200 +/- 200 nM in the red cell (J.A. Dix, A.S. Verkman & A.K. Solomon, J. Membrane Biol. 89:211-223, 1986). The kinetics of DBDS binding to MCD cells at 0.25 microM-1 are characterized by a fast process, tau = 0.14 +/- 0.03 sec, similar to tau = 0.12 +/- 0.03 sec in the red cell. These similarities show that the physical chemical characteristics of stilbene inhibitor binding to MCD cell 'band 3' closely resemble those for red cell band 3, which suggests that the molecular structure is highly conserved.