The Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase alpha2-subunit isoform modulates contractility in the perinatal mouse diaphragm

This study uses genetically altered mice to examine the contribution of the Na⁺-K⁺-ATPase ₂ catalytic subunit to resting potential, excitability, and contractility of the perinatal diaphragm. The ₂ protein is reduced by 38% in ₂-heterozygous and absent in ₂-knockout mice, and ₁-isoform is upregulated 1.9-fold in ₂-knockout. Resting potentials are depolarized by 0.8–4.0 mV in heterozygous and knockout mice. Action potential threshold, overshoot, and duration are normal. Spontaneous firing, a developmental function, is impaired in knockout diaphragm, but this does not compromise its ability to fire evoked action potential trains, the dominant mode of activation near birth. Maximum tetanic force, rate of activation, force-frequency and force-voltage relationships, and onset and magnitude of fatigue are not changed. The major phenotypic consequence of reduced ₂ content is that relaxation from contraction is 1.7-fold faster. This finding reveals a distinct cellular role of the ₂-isoform at a step after membrane excitation, which cannot be restored simply by increasing ₁ content. Na⁺/Ca²⁺ exchanger expression decreases in parallel with ₂-isoform, suggesting that Ca²⁺ extrusion is affected by the altered ₂ genotype. There are no major compensatory changes in expression of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca²⁺-ATPase, phospholamban, or plasma membrane Ca²⁺-ATPase. These results demonstrate that the Na⁺-K⁺-ATPase ₁-isoform alone is able to maintain equilibrium K⁺ and Na⁺ gradients and to substitute for ₂-isoform in most cellular functions related to excitability and force. They further indicate that the ₂-isoform contributes significantly less at rest than expected from its proportional content but can modulate contractility during muscle contraction. Na⁺-K⁺-ATPase ₂ catalytic subunit; heterozygous mice; knockout mice; resting potential     

Aldosterone directly induces Na, K-ATPase alpha 1-subunit mRNA in the renal cortex of rat

The change of blood pressure and the induction of Na, K-ATPase alpha 1-subunit mRNA have been investigated in the renal cortex of aldosterone-treated hypertensive rat. The increase of blood pressure by aldosterone-treatment for 25 days was decreased by the treatment of amiloride or spironolactone. The level of Na, K-ATPase alpha 1-subunit mRNA of the renal cortex in aldosterone-treated rat was increased than that in the control, and its increase was repressed by treatment of spironolactone, but not altered by the treatment of amiloride. This result suggests that the increase of Na, K-ATPase alpha 1-subunit mRNA in the renal cortex of aldosterone-treated hypertensive rat may be related with the direct induction of Na, K-ATPase mRNA without the increase of Na-traffic through Na-channel.     

Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity in alveolar epithelial cells increases with cyclic stretch

Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase pumps (Na(+) pumps) in the alveolar epithelium create a transepithelial Na(+) gradient crucial to keeping fluid from the pulmonary air space. We hypothesized that alveolar epithelial stretch stimulates Na(+) pump trafficking to the basolateral membrane (BLM) and, thereby, increases overall Na(+) pump activity. Alveolar type II cells were isolated from Sprague-Dawley rats and seeded onto elastic membranes coated with fibronectin or 5-day-conditioned extracellular matrix. After 2 days in culture, cells were uniformly stretched for 1 h in a custom-made device. Na(+) pump activity was subsequently assessed by ouabain-inhibitable uptake of (86)Rb(+), a K(+) tracer, and BLM Na(+) pump abundance was measured. In support of our hypothesis, cells increased Na(+) pump activity in a "dose-dependent" manner when stretched to 12, 25, or 37% change in surface area (DeltaSA), and cells stretched to 25% DeltaSA more than doubled Na(+) pump abundance in the BLM. Cells on 5-day matrix tolerated higher strain than cells on fibronectin before the onset of Na(+) pump upregulation. Treatment with Gd(3+), a stretch-activated channel blocker, amiloride, a Na(+) channel blocker, or both reduced but did not abolish stretch-induced effects. Sustained tonic stretch, unlike cyclic stretch, elicited no significant Na(+) pump response.     

Mechanical stretching of alveolar epithelial cells increases Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity.

Alveolar epithelial cells effect edema clearance by transporting Na(+) and liquid out of the air spaces. Active Na(+) transport by the basolaterally located Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase is an important contributor to lung edema clearance. Because alveoli undergo cyclic stretch in vivo, we investigated the role of cyclic stretch in the regulation of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity in alveolar epithelial cells. Using the Flexercell Strain Unit, we exposed a cell line of murine lung epithelial cells (MLE-12) to cyclic stretch (30 cycles/min). After 15 min of stretch (10% mean strain), there was no change in Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity, as assessed by (86)Rb(+) uptake. By 30 min and after 60 min, Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity was significantly increased. When cells were treated with amiloride to block amiloride-sensitive Na(+) entry into cells or when cells were treated with gadolinium to block stretch-activated, nonselective cation channels, there was no stimulation of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity by cyclic stretch. Conversely, cells exposed to Nystatin, which increases Na(+) entry into cells, demonstrated increased Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity. The changes in Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity were paralleled by increased Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase protein in the basolateral membrane of MLE-12 cells. Thus, in MLE-12 cells, short-term cyclic stretch stimulates Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity, most likely by increasing intracellular Na(+) and by recruitment of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase subunits from intracellular pools to the basolateral membrane.     

Control of Na+-K+-ATPase beta 1-subunit expression: role of 3'-untranslated region

Using in vitro translation and cell transfection assays, we previously demonstrated that the Na⁺-K⁺-ATPase ₁ mRNA species containing its longest 3'-untranslated region (UTR) exhibited the lowest translational efficiency. Here, employing deletions and in vivo expression assays, using direct injection of plasmids into rat ventricular myocardium, we identified a 143-nt segment located in the distal 3'-UTR of ₁ mRNA that was associated with decreased luciferase expression; interestingly, this segment contains three AUUUA motifs. Using RNA-protein binding assays and UV cross-linking of cRNA with cytosolic proteins of rat heart, we identified an 38-kDa protein that specifically bound to the cRNA encoding the 143-nt segment of ₁ mRNA 3'-UTR. Mutation of three nucleotides located in the middle region of the 143-nt segment, which was predicted to greatly disrupt a putative stem-loop structure of the cRNA in this region, was associated with reduced binding of the mutated cRNA to the protein migrating at 38 kDa. The cRNA encoding a segment of cyclooxygenase-2 mRNA 3'-UTR containing six AUUUA sequences did not bind the protein migrating at 38 kDa and did not compete with the binding of the wild-type 143-nt ₁ cRNA to the protein. The above results suggest that the 143-nt segment in the distal segment of the 3'-UTR of ₁ mRNA may play an important role in the control of ₁-subunit expression. RNA-protein binding; AUUUA sequence; plasmid expression in heart; direct myocardial injection; cardiac expression