Lung lamellar bodies maintain an acidic internal pH.

The internal pH of lung lamellar bodies was investigated with membrane permeable basic amines. Isolated granular pneumocytes and isolated lung lamellar bodies exhibited fluorescence when exposed to 8 microM quinacrine, suggesting accumulation of this dye due to an acidic internal pH. Uptake of [14C]methylamine by isolated lung lamellar bodies was measured to quantitate the intralamellar body pH. In KCl-ATP (10 mM) medium (pH 7.0), the accumulation ratio of methylamine (inside/outside) during 2-min incubation was 8.1 +/- 0.47 (mean +/- S.E., n = 8) indicating an internal pH of 6.1. Lamellar bodies accumulated methylamine almost 30-fold in K+-free mannitol medium indicating an internal pH of 5.6. The pH gradient across the lamellar body membrane decreased when external pH was decreased or when ATP was omitted. The pH gradient was also decreased by the addition of 10 mM NH4Cl, 2 micrograms/ml nigericin, 0.02 mM N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, or 1 mM N'-ethylmaleimide. These observations indicate that lamellar bodies maintain an acidic interior (pH 6.1 or below) which is generated by an energy-dependent process.