Key Points Dehydrated hereditary stomatocytosis is characterized by abnormal RBC morphology but may involve pseudohyperkalemia and perinatal edema. This syndrome is associated with germline mutations in PIEZO1, encoding a transmembrane protein that induces mechanosensitive currents.

Mutations in the human

The cellular and subcellular localizations of the AE2 anion exchanger in rat kidney have remained elusive despite detection of moderately abundant AE2 mRNA and AE2 polypeptide in all kidney regions. In this report a simple epitope unmasking technique has allowed the immunolocalization of AE2 antigenic sites in basolateral membranes of several rat kidney tubular epithelial cells. AE2 immunostaining was faint or absent in the glomerulus and proximal tubule, present in descending and ascending thin limbs, and stronger in the medullary thick ascending limb (MTAL). A lower staining intensity was found in cortical thick ascending limbs and even less in the distal convoluted tubule. In contrast, there was an enhanced staining in the macula densa. In principal cells (PC) of the connecting segment, AE2 was undetectable but gradually increased in intensity along the collecting duct, with strongest staining in inner medullary collecting duct (IMCD) PC. A sodium dodecyl sulfate-sensitive AE2-related Golgi epitope was also detected in some interstitial and endothelial cells of the inner medulla and in epithelial cells of IMCD and MTAL. Colchicine treatment of the intact animal altered the distribution of this Golgi-associated epitope but left plasmalemmal AE2 undisturbed. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction detected AE2a, AE2b, and AE2c2 but not AE2c1 transcripts in rat kidney mRNA. The results suggest a widespread occurrence of the AE2 protein in several renal epithelial cell types.

We have characterized expression of anion exchanger 2 (AE2) mRNA and protein in the mouse intestine. AE2 mRNA abundance was higher in colon than in more proximal segments. AE2a mRNA was more abundant than AE2b mRNA throughout the intestine, and AE2c mRNA was expressed at very low levels. This AE2 mRNA pattern contrasted with that in mouse stomach, in which AE2c > AE2b > AE2a. AE2 polypeptide abundance as detected by immunoblot qualitatively paralleled that of mRNA, whereas AE2 immunostaining exhibited a more continuous decrease in intensity from colon to duodenum. AE2 polypeptide was more abundant in colonic surface cells than in crypts, whereas ileal crypts and villi exhibited similar AE2 abundance. AE2 was also observed in mural and vascular smooth muscle. Localization of AE2 epitopes was restricted to the basolateral membranes of epithelial cells throughout the intestine with three exceptions. Under mild fixation conditions, anti-AE2 amino acids (aa) 109–122 detected nonpolarized immunostaining of ileal enterocytes and of Paneth cell granule membranes. An epitope detected by anti-AE2 aa 1224–1237 was also localized to subapical regions of Brunner’s gland ducts of duodenum and upper jejunum. These localization studies will aid in the interpretation of anion exchanger function measured in epithelial sheets, isolated cells, and membrane vesicles.

We have cloned from murine erythroleukemia (MEL) cells, thymus, and stomach the cDNA encoding the Ca 2؉ -gated K ؉ (K Ca ) channel, mIK1, the mouse homolog of hIK1 (Ishii, T. M., Silvia, C., Hirschberg, B., Bond, C. T., Adelman, J. P., and Maylie, J. (1997) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.(U. S. A. 94, 11651-11656). mIK1 mRNA was detected at varied levels in many tissue types. mIK1 K Ca channel activity expressed in Xenopus oocytes closely resembled the K ca of red cells (Gardos channel) and MEL cells in its single channel conductance, lack of voltage-sensitivity of activation, inward rectification, and Ca 2؉ concentration dependence. mIK1 also resembled the erythroid channel in its pharmacological properties, mediating whole cell and unitary currents sensitive to low nM concentrations of both clotrimazole (CLT) and its des-imidazolyl metabolite, 2-chlorophenyl-bisphenyl-methanol, and to low nM concentrations of iodocharybdotoxin. Whereas control oocytes subjected to hypotonic swelling remained swollen, mIK1 expression conferred on oocytes a novel, Ca 2؉ -dependent, CLT-sensitive regulatory volume decrease response. Hypotonic swelling of voltage-clamped mIK1-expressing oocytes increased outward currents that were Ca 2؉ -dependent, CLT-sensitive, and reversed near the K ؉ equilibrium potential. mIK1 mRNA levels in ES cells increased steadily during erythroid differentiation in culture, in contrast to other K Ca mRNAs examined. Low nanomolar concentrations of CLT inhibited proliferation and erythroid differentiation of peripheral blood stem cells in liquid culture.Terminal differentiation of erythroid precursor cells is marked by enucleation and reduction in cell volume. A major component of cell volume reduction is achieved by reduction of cell K ϩ content. Mature, circulating erythrocytes retain two major ion transport pathways mediating K ϩ efflux (1). These are: 1) electroneutral K-Cl cotransport and 2) a voltage-insensitive, Ca 2ϩ -activated potassium (K ϩ ) channel of intermediate conductance (2-4), also known as the Gardos channel (5). The Gardos channel is thought to play a major role in volume regulation in normal (6) and sickle (SS) 1 human erythrocytes (7,8).Especially in the chronically hypoxic environment of adherent or trapped sickle cells, the Gardos channel appears to mediate the major component of K ϩ loss from the erythrocyte (9), leading to an increased concentration of intracellular hemoglobin S, and exponentially decreasing the lag time for accelerated hemoglobin S polymerization (10). The Gardos channel's biophysical and pharmacological properties have been characterized in excised inside-out human red cell membrane patches, in which Ca 2ϩ -activated K (K Ca ) currents show inwardly rectifying properties with a unitary slope conductance ranging from 15 to 40 picosiemens, depending on the ionic conditions used (11-13). The channel is sensitive to block by charybdotoxin (14 -16), but insensitive to the SK channel blocker, apamin, and to the K ATP channel blockers, the antihypoglycemic drugs (17). 2Sickle...

We reported recently that regulation by intracellular pH (pHi) of the murine Cl−/HCO3 − exchanger AE2 requires amino acid residues 310–347 of the polypeptide's NH2-terminal cytoplasmic domain. We have now identified individual amino acid residues within this region whose integrity is required for regulation of AE2 by pH. 36Cl− efflux from AE2-expressing Xenopus oocytes was monitored during variation of extracellular pH (pHo) with unclamped or clamped pHi, or during variation of pHi at constant pHo. Wild-type AE2–mediated 36Cl− efflux was profoundly inhibited by acid pHo, with a value of pHo(50) = 6.87 ± 0.05, and was stimulated up to 10-fold by the intracellular alkalinization produced by bath removal of the preequilibrated weak acid, butyrate. Systematic hexa-alanine [(A)6]bloc substitutions between aa 312–347 identified the greatest acid shift in pHo(50) value, ∼0.8 pH units in the mutant (A)6342–347, but only a modest acid-shift in the mutant (A)6336–341. Two of the six (A)6 mutants retained normal pHi sensitivity of 36Cl− efflux, whereas the (A)6 mutants 318–323, 336–341, and 342–347 were not stimulated by intracellular alkalinization. We further evaluated the highly conserved region between aa 336–347 by alanine scan and other mutagenesis of single residues. Significant changes in AE2 sensitivity to pHo and to pHi were found independently and in concert. The E346A mutation acid-shifted the pHo(50) value to the same extent whether pHi was unclamped or held constant during variation of pHo. Alanine substitution of the corresponding glutamate residues in the cytoplasmic domains of related AE anion exchanger polypeptides confirmed the general importance of these residues in regulation of anion exchange by pH. Conserved, individual amino acid residues of the AE2 cytoplasmic domain contribute to independent regulation of anion exchange activity by pHo as well as pHi.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE WNK kinases, including WNK3, and the associated downstream SPAK and OSR1 kinases, comprise an important signaling cascade that regulates the cation-chloride cotransporters. Ischemia-induced stimulation of the bumetanide-sensitive Na+-K+-Cl- cotransporter (NKCC1) plays an important role in the pathophysiology of experimental stroke, but the mechanism of its regulation in this context is unknown. Here, we investigated the WNK3-SPAK/OSR1 pathway as a regulator of NKCC1 stimulation and their collective role in ischemic brain damage. METHOD Wild-type WNK3 (WT) and WNK3 knockout (KO) mice were subjected to ischemic stroke via transient middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion. Infarct volume, brain edema, blood brain barrier (BBB) damage, white matter demyelination, and neurological deficits were assessed. Total and phosphorylated forms of WNK3 and SPAK/OSR1 were assayed by immunobloting and immunostaining. In vitro ischemia studies in cultured neurons and immature oligodendrocytes were conducted using the oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation method. RESULTS WNK3 KO mice exhibited significantly decreased infarct volume and axonal demyelination, less cerebral edema, and accelerated neurobehavioral recovery compared to WNK3 WT mice subjected to MCA occlusion. The neuroprotective phenotypes conferred by WNK3 KO were associated with a decrease in stimulatory hyper-phosphorylations of the SPAK/OSR1 catalytic T-loop and of NKCC1 stimulatory sites Thr203/Thr207/Thr212, as well as with decreased cell surface expression of NKCC1. Genetic inhibition of WNK3 or siRNA knockdown of SPAK/OSR1 increased the tolerance of cultured primary neurons and oligodendrocytes to in vitro ischemia. CONCLUSION These data identify a novel role for the WNK3-SPAK/OSR1-NKCC1 signaling pathway in ischemic neuroglial injury, and suggest the WNK3-SPAK/OSR1 kinase pathway as a therapeutic target for neuroprotection following ischemic stroke.

Dehydrated hereditary stomatocytosis (DHSt) is an autosomal dominant congenital hemolytic anemia with moderate splenomegaly and often compensated hemolysis. Affected red cells are characterized by a nonspecific cation leak of the red cell membrane, reflected in elevated sodium content, decreased potassium content, elevated MCHC and MCV, and decreased osmotic fragility. The majority of symptomatic DHSt cases reported to date have been associated with gain-of-function mutations in the mechanosensitive cation channel gene, PIEZO1. A recent study has identified two families with DHSt associated with a single mutation in the KCNN4 gene encoding the Gardos channel (KCa3.1), the erythroid Ca 21 -sensitive K 1 channel of intermediate conductance, also expressed in many other cell types. We present here, in the second report of DHSt associated with KCNN4 mutations, two previously undiagnosed DHSt families. Family NA exhibited the same de novo missense mutation as that recently described, suggesting a hot spot codon for DHSt mutations. Family WO carried a novel, inherited missense mutation in the ion transport domain of the channel. The patients' mild hemolytic anemia did not improve post-splenectomy, but splenectomy led to no serious thromboembolic events. We further characterized the expression of KCNN4 in the mutated patients and during erythroid differentiation of CD341 cells and K562 cells. We also analyzed KCNN4 expression during mouse embryonic development.