Effects of Lipids on ENaC Activity in Cultured Mouse Cortical Collecting Duct Cells

Direct effects on epithelial Na⁺ channels (ENaC) activity by lipids, e.g., arachidonic acid (AA), eicosatetraynoic acid (ETYA), linoleic acid (LA), stearic acid (SA), hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (HETE), 11,12–epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (EET), (PGF2), and (PGE2), in cultured mouse cortical collecting duct (M1) cells were clarified by using single-channel recordings in this study. In a cell-attached recording, a bath application of 10 μM AA significantly reduced the ENaC open probability (NPo), whereas 10 μM ETYA or 5 μM LA only induced a slight inhibition. The inside-out recording as a standard protocol was thereafter performed to examine effects of these lipids on ENaC activity. Within 10 min after the formation of the inside-out configuration, the NPo of ENaC in cultured mouse cortical collecting duct (M1) cells remained relatively constant. Application of ETYA or LA or SA exhibited a similar inhibition on the channel NPo when applied to the extracellular side, suggesting that fatty acids could exert a nonspecific inhibition on ENaC activity. 11,12-EET, a metabolite of AA via the cytochrome P450 epoxygenase pathway, significantly inhibited the ENaC NPo, whereas 20-HETE, a metabolite of AA via the hydroxylase pathway, only caused a small inhibition of the ENaC NPo, to a similar degree as that seen with ETYA and LA. However, both PGE2 and PGF2α significantly enhanced the ENaC NPo. These results suggest that fatty acids exert a nonspecific effect on ENaC activity due to the interaction between the channel proximity and the lipid. The opposite effects of 11,12-EET and prostaglandin (PG) implicate different mechanisms in regulation of ENaC activity by activation of epoxygenase and cyclooxygenase.