ANG II constricts descending vasa recta (DVR) through Ca(2+) signaling in pericytes. We examined the role of PKC DVR pericytes isolated from the rat renal outer medulla. The PKC blocker staurosporine (10 microM) eliminated ANG II (10 nM)-induced vasoconstriction, inhibited pericyte cytoplasmic Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)](cyt)) elevation, and blocked Mn(2+) influx into the cytoplasm. Activation of PKC by either 1,2-dioctanoyl-sn-glycerol (10 microM) or phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate (PDBu; 1 microM) induced both vasoconstriction and pericyte [Ca(2+)](cyt) elevation. Diltiazem (10 microM) blocked the ability of PDBu to increase pericyte [Ca(2+)](cyt) and enhance Mn(2+) influx. Both ANG II- and PDBu-induced PKC stimulated DVR generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), measured by oxidation of dihydroethidium (DHE). The effect of ANG II was only significant when ANG II AT(2) receptors were blocked with PD-123319 (10 nM). PDBu augmentation of DHE oxidation was blocked by either TEMPOL (1 mM) or diphenylene iodonium (10 microM). We conclude that ANG II and PKC activation increases DVR pericyte [Ca(2+)](cyt), divalent ion conductance into the cytoplasm, and ROS generation.

NHE3 is an intestinal epithelial isoform Na+/H+ exchanger that is present in the brush border of small intestinal, colonic, and gallbladder Na+‐absorbing epithelial cells. NHE3 is acutely up‐ and downregulated in response to some G protein‐linked receptors, tyrosine kinase receptors, and protein kinases when studied in intact ileum, when stably expressed in PS120 fibroblasts, and in the few studies reported in the human colon cancer cell line Caco‐2. In most cases this is due to changes in Vmax of NHE3, although in response to cAMP and squalamine there are also changes in the K′ (H+)i of the exchanger. The mechanism of the Vmax regulation as shown by cell surface biotinylation and confocal microscopy in Caco‐2 cells and biotinylation in PS120 cells involves changes in the amount of NHE3 on the plasma membrane. In addition, in some cases there are also changes in turnover number of the exchanger. In some cases, the change in amount of NHE3 in the plasma membrane is associated with a change in the amount of plasma membrane. A combination of biochemical studies and transport/inhibitor studies in intact ileum and Caco‐2 cells demonstrated that the increase in brush border Na+/H+ exchange caused by acute exposure to EGF was mediated by PI 3‐kinase. PI 3‐kinase was also involved in FGF stimulation of NHE3 expressed in fibroblasts. Thus, NHE3 is another example of a transport protein that is acutely regulated in part by changing the amount of the transporter on the plasma membrane by a process that appears to involve vesicle trafficking and also to involve changes in turnover number.

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