The stimulation of fluid and electrolyte secretion in salivary cells results in ionic changes that promote rapid increases in the activity of the Na,K-ATPase. In many cell systems, there are conflicting findings concerning the regulation of the phosphorylation of the Na,K-ATPase ␣ subunit, which is the catalytic moiety. Initially, we investigated the phosphorylation sites on the ␣1 subunit in native rat parotid acinar cells using tandem mass spectrometry and identified The Na,K-ATPase, or sodium pump, is an important ion transport protein that maintains the electrochemical gradient across the plasma membrane of eukaryotic cells. It is an integral plasma membrane protein that transports three Na ϩ ions for every two K ϩ ions, an event that consumes one molecule of ATP. As such, it participates in fluid and electrolyte secretion and cell volume regulation and is part of a network of ion transporters that regulate cellular ionic changes during basal, stimulated, and pathological conditions. The basic functional unit of the Na,K-ATPase protein consists of an ␣ subunit responsible for the catalytic activity, a glycosylated  subunit, and in some cells, an FXYD protein. There are multiple isoforms of ␣ and  subunits (1) and different FXYD proteins (2).Although it has been known for decades that the Na,KATPase activity is regulated by the intracellular and extracellular ionic composition, regulation can also occur by the phosphorylation of the ␣ subunit by various kinases (for review, see Ref.3). The  subunit and FXYD proteins may also play regulatory roles under some conditions. Various studies demonstrated that Ser 943 , a site on the ␣ subunit C terminus, was a target for PKA phosphorylation, and Ser 16 and Ser 23 on the N terminus were identified as PKC phosphorylation sites (4 -7). In addition to contrasting results obtained from different species and differences between in vitro and intact cells (below), investigators have used different numbering of the ␣ subunit amino acids because the first five are cleaved during biosynthesis and production of the mature protein. There are conflicting studies concerning the effects of different kinases on the ␣ subunit phosphorylation and Na,KATPase activity. The phosphorylation of the ␣ subunit by PKC on Ser 23 and unspecified sites stimulated the Na,K-ATPase activity in intact cells (9, 10), in some cases due to its enhanced insertion into the plasma membrane (11). Alternatively, the PKC-mediated phosphorylation of ␣ produced a reduction in Na,K-ATPase activity due to its endocytosis and internalization (12)(13)(14). In some studies, the ␣ subunit was preferentially phosphorylated by members of the classical PKC family (cPKC: 2 ␣, , ␥) when compared with novel PKC family members (nPKC: ␦, ⑀, ) (11, 15). However, both cPKC (PKCI) and nPKC (PKC␦) proteins were reported to regulate ␣ subunit phosphorylation (16), and PKC, an atypical PKC family member, also phosphorylated the ␣ subunit on Ser 23 (13). In addition to PKC, other kinases were reported to phosphorylate the ␣ s...