No abstract

Osmotic homeostasis in the brain involves movement of water through aquaporin-4 (AQP4) membrane channels. Perivascular astrocyte end-feet contain distinctive orthogonal lattices (square arrays) assembled from 4-to 6-nm intramembrane particles (IMPs) corresponding to individual AQP4 tetramers. Two isoforms of AQP4 result from translation initiation at methionine residues M1 and M23, but no functional differences are known. In this study, Chinese hamster ovary cells were transfected with M1, M23, or M1؉M23 isoforms, and AQP4 expression was confirmed by immunoblotting, immunocytochemistry, and immunogold labeling. Square array organization was examined by freeze-fracture electron microscopy. In astrocyte end-feet, >90% of 4-to 6-nm IMPs were found in square arrays, with 65% in arrays of 13-30 IMPs. In cells transfected with M23, 95% of 4-to 6-nm IMPs were in large assemblies (rafts), 85% of which contained >100 IMPs. However, in M1 cells, >95% of 4-to 6-nm IMPs were present as singlets, with <5% in incipient arrays of 2-12 IMPs. In A quaporins are specialized water transport channels in plasma membranes of water-permeable tissues (1). Aquaporins 1 and 4 (AQP1 and AQP4) are most important to fluid movements in mammalian brain. AQP4 exists as two isoforms, differing at their N termini, because of translation initiation at the first methionine (M1, 323 aa) or the second methionine (M23, 301 aa) (2, 3). Both isoforms are present in brain, but M23 is at least 3-fold more abundant (4, 5). Endogenous AQP4 is a tetramer usually containing M1 and M23 subunits. The water permeabilities of M1 and M23 are similar, and functional differences are not known (3, 4).Fluid movements are precisely orchestrated within the rigid cranium to prevent physical damage from swelling or shrinkage. Interfaces between brain parenchyma and cerebrospinal fluid occur around the ventricles, surrounding blood vessels, and at the brain surface. AQP1 is expressed in rat choroid plexus, the site of cerebrospinal fluid secretion (6), whereas AQP4 is enriched in rat astrocyte end-feet surrounding brain capillaries (7,8). Astrocyte processes forming the glia limitans at brain surfaces, ependymal cells lining brain ventricles, and Müller cells facing the vitreous body and retinal blood vessels all have abundant AQP4 (9). AQP4 in perivascular membranes of astrocyte end-feet has been implicated in neurological disorders, including acute hyponatremic edema, postischemic injury, and epileptic seizures (10-13).Perivascular membranes of astrocyte end-feet contain numerous strikingly regular arrays of intramembrane particles (IMPs) in freeze-fracture electron micrographs. These IMP arrays have been referred to as square arrays, assemblies, or orthogonally arranged particles (OAPs) (14). In early freeze-fracture images of astrocyte end-feet (15), square arrays were resolved as 6-nm IMP protrusions in P-face images (protoplasmic leaflets) or as smaller pits in E-faces (extraplasmic leaflets). The sizes and shapes of square arrays vary, but the IMPs and pits have un...

Aquaglyceroporins form the subset of the aquaporin water channel family that is permeable to glycerol and certain small, uncharged solutes. AQP9 has unusually broad solute permeability and is expressed in hepatocyte plasma membranes. Proteoliposomes reconstituted with expressed, purified rat AQP9 protein were compared with simple liposomes for solute permeability. At pH 7.5, AQP9 proteoliposomes exhibited Hg 2؉ -inhibitible glycerol and urea permeabilities that were increased 63-fold and 90-fold over background. ␤-Hydroxybutyrate permeability was not increased above background, and osmotic water permeability was only minimally elevated. During starvation, the liver takes up glycerol for gluconeogenesis. Expression of AQP9 in liver was induced up to 20-fold in rats fasted for 24 -96 h, and the AQP9 level gradually declined after refeeding. No changes in liver AQP9 levels were observed in rats fed ketogenic diets or high-protein diets, but AQP9 levels were elevated in livers of rats made diabetic by streptozotocin injection. When blood glucose levels of the diabetic rats were restored to normal by insulin treatments, the AQP9 levels returned to baseline. Confocal immunofluorescence revealed AQP9 immunostaining on the sinusoidal surfaces of hepatocyte plates throughout the livers of control rats. Denser immunostaining was observed in the same distribution in livers of fasted and streptozotocin-treated rats. We conclude that AQP9 serves as membrane channel in hepatocytes for glycerol and urea at physiological pH, but not for ␤-hydroxybutyrate. In addition, levels of AQP9 expression fluctuate depending on the nutritional status of the subject and the circulating insulin levels. T he AQP9 cDNA was first isolated during efforts to clone urea transporters by expression in oocytes (1). Expressed in testes, leukocytes, and brain, AQP9 is abundant in liver (1) where it resides in hepatocyte plasma membranes facing the sinusoids (2-4). The coding sequence of AQP9 is more closely related to AQP3 (5) and AQP7 (6), which are both permeated by glycerol and water. This subset of proteins, referred to as aquaglyceroporins, is functionally distinct from the water-selective homologs AQP1, AQP2, AQP4, and AQP5 (7). The original studies of Xenopus laevis oocytes expressing rat AQP9 reported permeability to a wide range of 14 C-or 3 H-labeled solutes including polyols, carbamides, purines, pyrimidines, nucleosides, and monocarboxylates (1). Glycerol and urea permeability have been confirmed with AQP9 oocytes (8), but studies of proteoliposomes reconstituted with purified AQP9 protein have not been reported.The physiological functions of AQP9 are uncertain. During prolonged fasting, glycerol released from adipocytes via AQP7 may be taken up by the liver via AQP9 for gluconeogenesis. Urea, a byproduct of amino acid deamination, and ␤-hydroxybutyrate, an alternative fuel, may be released from liver via AQP9. An elegant series of recent studies of adipocyte AQP7 and liver AQP9 mRNAs and promoters suggested that the genes are coordinately ...