Kinins induce rapid structural changes in colon concomitant with chloride secretion.

Voltage-clamped colonic epithelia were fixed for morphological observation minutes after bradykinin was added to produce its well-characterized increase in short circuit current representing net chloride secretion. With respect to paired controls, the average distance from the luminal epithelial surface to the underlying muscularis mucosa decreased significantly with time, and was accompanied by marked structural alterations in the crypts of Lieberkühn and surrounding lamina propria. This rapid reconfiguration of epithelial architecture suggests that kinin-receptor interaction leads to epithelial contractile events which occur simultaneously with net chloride secretion.