NaCl transport in mouse medullary thick ascending limbs. I. Functional nephron heterogeneity and ADH-stimulated NaCl cotransport.

We assessed the effects of antidiuretic hormone and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) analogues on transepithelial voltage, Ve, and/or net chloride absorption in isolated mouse medullary (mTALH) and cortical (cTALH) thick ascending limbs of Henle; the passive NaCl permeability characteristics and electrical properties of the mTALH; and the effects of anion and cation substitutions and transport inhibitors on both basal and ADH-stimulated Ve and/or net chloride absorption in the mTALH. The data demonstrate that these two segments are functionally heterogeneous: ADH, at concentrations comparable to plasma levels seen in mammalian species during ordinary antidiuresis, and/or cAMP increase three- to fourfold the rate of NaCl absorption in the mTALH but not in the cTALH. The ion substitution and inhibitor data are consistent with the view that NaCl absorption in the mTALH depends on a secondary active transport process: NaCl entry across luminal membranes is a coupled process of indeterminate stoichiometry that is driven by the transmembrane electrochemical gradient for Na+, which is maintained by Na+-K+-ATPase. Finally, the data demonstrate that the mTALH is electrically leaky whether measured electrically, 11 omega . cm2, or isotopically, 50 omega . cm2, but essentially water impermeable; and that the mTALH is perm-selective for Na+ with respect to Cl-. The disparity between electrical resistances measured directly with respect to those calculated from tracer fluxes, together with the hybrid characteristics of mTALH junctional complexes (leaky to Na+ and Cl-; tight to water), may be reconciled by assuming that mTALH junctional complexes contain passive ion permeation pathways composed of narrow channels through which ions pass in single-file fashion.