Lee DH, Maunsbach AB, Riquier-Brison AD, Nguyen MT, Fenton RA, Bachmann S, Yu AS, McDonough AA. Effects of ACE inhibition and ANG II stimulation on renal Na-Cl cotransporter distribution, phosphorylation, and membrane complex properties. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 304: C147-C163, 2013. First published October 31, 2012; doi:10.1152/ajpcell.00287.2012.-The renal distal tubule Na-Cl cotransporter (NCC) reabsorbs Ͻ10% of the filtered Na ϩ but is a key control point for blood pressure regulation by angiotensin II (ANG II), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI), and thiazide diuretics. This study aimed to determine whether NCC phosphorylation (NCCp) was regulated by acute (20 -30 min) treatment with the ACEI captopril (12 g/min ϫ 20 min) or by a sub-pressor dose of ANG II (20 ng·kg Ϫ1 ·min Ϫ1 ) in Inactin-anesthetized rats. By immuno-EM, NCCp was detected exclusively in or adjacent to apical plama membranes (APM) in controls and after ACEI or ANG II treatment, while NCC total was detected in both APM and subapical cytoplasmic vesicles (SCV) in all conditions. In renal homogenates, neither ACEI nor ANG II treatment altered NCCp abundance, assayed by immunoblot. However, by density gradient fractionation we identified a pool of low-density APM in which NCCp decreased 50% in response to captopril and was restored during ANG II infusion, and another pool of higher-density APM that responded reciprocally, indicative of regulated redistribution between two APM pools. In both pools, NCCp was preferentially localized to Tritonsoluble membranes. Blue Native gel electrophoresis established that APM NCCp localized to ϳ700 kDa complexes (containing ␥-adducin) while unphosphorylated NCC in intracellular membranes primarily localized to ϳ400 kDa complexes: there was no evidence for native monomeric or dimeric NCC or NCCp. In summary, this study demonstrates that phosphorylated NCC, localized to multimeric complexes in the APM, redistributes in a regulated manner within the APM in response to ACEI and ANG II. blood pressure; trafficking; captopril; ␥-adducin; subcellular fractionation; immuno-EM THE RENAL DISTAL CONVOLUTED TUBULE (DCT) is a key control point for extracellular volume and blood pressure regulation. The Na-Cl cotransporter (NCC), expressed in the apical membrane of the DCT, is the target of thiazide diuretics prescribed widely to reduce extracellular fluid volume in edema and to lower blood pressure (1,20,32,38). In addition, inactivating mutations of either NCC or the NCC regulator SPAK (STE20/ SPS1-related proline/alanine-rich kinase) provoke salt wasting and lower blood pressure (37,46,60). In contrast, mutations in WNK ("with no lysine") kinases, which directly or indirectly activate NCC, provoke familial hyperkalemic hypertension (12,14,58). Taken together, these findings suggest that conditions that increase NCC activity elevate blood pressure (which drives pressure natriuresis to match salt output to input) while conditions that decrease NCC activity lower blood pressure (by increasing salt excretion). ...