We previously identified transcripts encoding a G protein-coupled, extracellular calcium/polyvalent cation-sensing receptor, RaKCaR, in rat kidney (D. Riccardi, J. Park, W.-S. Lee, G. Gamba, E. M. Brown, and S. C. Hebert. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92: 131–135, 1994), which was proposed to provide the mechanism for modulating a variety of renal functions in response to changes in extracellular Ca2+ (E. M. Brown. In: Handbook of Physiology. Bethesda, MD: Am. Physiol. Soc., 1992, sect. 8, vol. 2, chapt. 39, p. 1841–1916; and S. C. Hebert. Kidney Int. 50: 2129–2139, 1996). Here, we examine the cellular and regional distribution of receptor protein by immunofluorescence microscopy using a polyclonal antibody raised against a 22 amino acid region of the NH2 terminus of the receptor. The most intense fluorescence was seen at the basolateral border of cortical thick ascending limb cells. Basolateral staining for the receptor was also detected in medullary thick ascending limbs, in macula densa cells identified by costaining with antibody to brain nitric oxide synthase, NOS-B1, and in distal convoluted tubule cells distinguished by costaining for the apical thiazide-sensitive Na+-Cl−cotransporter. Apical anti-RaKCaR staining was detected at the base of the brush border of proximal tubules with decreasing intensity from S1 to S3 segments. In cortical collecting ducts, anti-RaKCaR staining was detected in some, but not all, type A intercalated cells identified by costaining with anti-H+-ATPase and anti-AE1 Cl−/[Formula: see text]exchanger antibodies. The present study demonstrates that RaKCaR protein is expressed in many different nephron segments and that the polarity of receptor expression varies with cell type along the nephron. These results suggest potential roles for the extracellular Ca2+/polyvalent cation-sensing receptor in responding to both circulating and urinary concentrations of divalent minerals and potentially other polyvalent cations (e.g., aminoglycoside antibiotics) to modulate nephron function.

The extracellular calcium ([Formula: see text])-sensing receptor (CaR) plays vital roles in [Formula: see text] homeostasis, but no data are available on its expression in small and large intestine. Polymerase chain reaction products amplified from reverse-transcribed duodenal RNA using CaR-specific primers showed >99% homology with the rat kidney CaR. Northern analysis with a CaR-specific cRNA probe demonstrated 4.1- and 7.5-kb transcripts in all intestinal segments. Immunohistochemistry with CaR-specific antisera showed clear basal staining of epithelial cells of small intestinal villi and crypts and modest apical staining of the former, whereas there was both basal and apical staining of colonic crypt epithelial cells. In situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry also demonstrated CaR expression in Auerbach’s myenteric plexus of small and large intestines and in the submucosa in the region of Meissner’s plexus. Our results reveal CaR expression in several cell types of small and large intestine, in which it may modulate absorptive and/or secretomotor functions.

The ATP-sensitive, inwardly rectifying K+ channel, ROMK, has been suggested to be the low-conductance ATP-sensitive K+ channel identified in apical membranes of mammalian renal thick ascending limb (TAL) and cortical collecting duct (CCD). Mutations in the human ROMK gene (KIR1.2) have been identified in kindreds with neonatal Bartter’s syndrome. In the present study, we generated polyclonal antibodies raised against both a COOH-terminal (amino acids 252–391) ROMK-maltose binding protein (MBP) fusion protein and an NH2-terminal (amino acids 34–49) ROMK peptide. Affinity-purified anti-ROMK COOH-terminal antibody detected the 45-kDa ROMK protein in kidney tissues and HEK-293 cells transfected with ROMK1 cDNA. The antibody also recognized 85- to 90-kDa proteins in kidney tissue; these higher molecular weight proteins were abolished by immunoabsorption with ROMK-MBP fusion protein and were also detected on Western blots using anti-ROMK NH2-terminal antibody. Immunofluorescence studies using anti-ROMK COOH-terminal antibody showed intense apical staining along the loop of Henle and distal nephron; staining with preimmune and immunoabsorbed serum was negative. When colocalized with distal nephron markers [the thiazide-sensitive cotransporter (rTSC1), the bumetanide-sensitive cotransporter (rBSC1), the vacuolar type H+-ATPase, and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (NOS I)], the ROMK protein was found primarily at the apical border of cells in the TAL, macula densa, distal convoluted tubule, and connecting tubule. Within the CCD, the ROMK protein was expressed in principal cells and was absent from intercalated cells. The tubule localization and polarity of ROMK staining are consistent with the distribution of ROMK mRNA and provide more support for ROMK being the low-conductance K+secretory channel in the rat distal nephron.

Although studies have suggested a role for angiogenesis in determining heart size during conditions demanding enhanced cardiac performance, the role of EC mass in determining the normal organ size is poorly understood. To explore the relationship between cardiac vasculature and normal heart size, we generated a transgenic mouse with a regulatable expression of the secreted angiogenic growth factor PR39 in cardiomyocytes. A significant change in adult mouse EC mass was apparent by 3 weeks following PR39 induction. Heart weight; cardiomyocyte size; vascular density normalization; upregulation of hypertrophy markers including atrial natriuretic factor, β-MHC, and GATA4; and activation of the Akt and MAP kinase pathways were observed at 6 weeks post-induction. Treatment of PR39-induced mice with the eNOS inhibitor l-NAME in the last 3 weeks of a 6-week stimulation period resulted in a significant suppression of heart growth and a reduction in hypertrophic marker expression. Injection of PR39 or another angiogenic growth factor, VEGF-B, into murine hearts during myocardial infarction led to induction of myocardial hypertrophy and restoration of myocardial function. Thus stimulation of vascular growth in normal adult mouse hearts leads to an increase in cardiac mass.

The calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) is activated by extracellular calcium (Ca2+(o)) and mediates many of the known effects of extracellular divalent minerals on body cells. Both surface and crypt cells express CaSR transcripts and protein on both apical and basolateral surfaces. Raising Ca2+(o) elicited increases in intracellular calcium (Ca2+(o)) in both surface and crypt cells with an EC50 of 2 mM. The Ca-induced increase in Ca2+(i) was associated with increases in inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate and eliminated by U-73129, an inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol-phospholipase C, as well as by thapsigargin. Other CaSR agonists, Gd3+ and neomycin, mimicked these Ca2+(o)-induced responses. Both luminal and bath Ca2+(o), Gd3+, and neomycin induced increases in Ca2+(i) in isolated perfused crypts. The stimulatory effect of forskolin on net fluid secretion in perfused crypts was abolished by increasing Ca2+(o) in either luminal or bath perfusates. Thus both apical and basolateral CaSR on crypt cells are functional and provide pathways modulating net intestinal fluid transport that may have important implications for the prevention and treatment of certain diarrheal diseases associated with elevated cAMP.