The recent demonstration of elevated PCO2 in structures of the rat renal cortex indicated that previous determinations of disequilibrium pH (pHDq), and thus the differentiation of H+ secretion from bicarbonate reabsorption per se, required further evaluation. A new aspiration pH electrode was developed to allow tubule fluid to achieve chemical equilibrium at the PCO2 prevailing in vivo. In control and bicarbonate-loaded rats a pHDq was not observed in either proximal or distal tubules. After intravenous benzolamide a significant acid pHDq was observed in the proximal (but not the distal) nephron, and increased further during metabolic alkalosis. During combined metabolic alkalosis and respiratory acidosis a significant pHDq was present in the distal but not in the proximal tubule. Aldosterone administration to bicarbonate-loaded, hypercapnic rats did not alter the distal pHDq further. When present, the pHDq in the distal tubule was obliterated by carbonic anhydrase infusion. We conclude that proximal but not distal tubule fluid is in functional contact with carbonic anhydrase; the enzyme is in excess in the proximal lumen and H2CO3 did not accumulate even during conditions associated with increased H+ secretion; the basal rate of H+ secretion in the distal nephron accessible to cortical micropuncture is less than previously assumed. The data support the view that H+ secretion is the major mechanism of renal bicarbonate reabsorption.
Conflicting data exist regarding the ability of the rat proximal convoluted tubule to maintain a transepithelial gradient for CO2 and the effects of carbonic anhydrase on CO2 permeability. The present in vivo microperfusion experiments were designed to assess the ability of the rat proximal tubule to sustain a CO2 gradient between tubule lumen and peritubular blood. Tubules were perfused at rates ranging from 10 to 100 nl/min with isotonic sodium chloride containing no CO2. Peritubular capillary and intraluminal PCO2 was measured during microperfusion with PCO2 microelectrodes to allow determination of the transepithelial CO2 gradient. The mean PCO2 measured in peritubular capillaries of control rats was 60.6 +/- 1.9 mmHg. Since the perfusion solution initially contained no CO2, a gradient of 60 mmHg was imposed across the tubule epithelium. Intraluminal PCO2 rapidly approached that of the surrounding capillaries. At a tubule perfusion rate of 20 nl/min, the gradient between lumen and blood decreased to 0.9 mmHg, a value not significantly greater than zero. The calculated CO2 permeability coefficient (KCO2) was 3.69 X 10(-5) cm2/s. Addition of either 10(-4) M acetazolamide or benzolamide did not prolong the rapid dissipation of the imposed CO2 gradient. The KCO2 during carbonic anhydrase inhibition was not significantly different from control values. It is concluded that the rat proximal tubule does not present a physiologically significant diffusion barrier to CO2 either in the presence or absence of carbonic anhydrase activity. The previously demonstrated acid disequilibrium pH in the proximal tubule during inhibition of carbonic anhydrase represents an intraluminal accumulation of carbonic acid rather than of carbon dioxide gas.
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