Abstract
To determine the functioning rate of Na-K-ATPase in the rat nephron, a micromethod was developed to measure the rate of rubidium uptake in single nephron segments microdissected from collagenase-treated kidneys. Because the hydrolytic activity of Na-K-ATPase displayed the same apparent affinity for K and Rb ions, whereas the Vmax elicited by K was higher than that in the presence of Rb, experiments were performed in the presence of cold Rb plus 86Rb. Before the assay, tubules were preincubated for 10 min at 37 degrees C to restore the normal transmembrane cation gradients. 86Rb uptake was measured after washing out extracellular cations by rinsing the tubules in ice-cold choline chloride solution containing Ba2+. Rb uptake increased quasi-linearly as a function of incubation time up to 30 s in the thick ascending limb, 1 min in the proximal convoluted tubule, and 5 min in the collecting tubule, and reached an equilibrium after 5-30 min. The initial rates of Rb uptake increased in a saturable fashion as Rb concentration in the medium rose from 0.25 to 5 mM. In medullary thick ascending limb, the initial rate of Rb uptake was inhibited by greater than 90% by 2.5 mM ouabain and by 10(-5) M of the metabolic inhibitor carbonyl cyanide trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone. Correlation of Na-K-ATPase hydrolytic activity at Vmax and initial rates of ouabain-sensitive Rb uptake in the successive segments of nephron indicates that in intact cells the pump works at approximately 20-30% of its Vmax. Increasing intracellular Na concentration by tubule preincubation in a Rb- and K-free medium increased the initial rates of Rb intake up to the Vmax of the hydrolytic activity of the pump.