Rabbit lacrimal acinar cells in primary culture: morphology and acute responses to cholinergic stimulation.

Purpose: The rabbit lacrimal gland yields large numbers of viable acinar cells that, when exposed to carbachol, respond with accelerated protein release, fluid phase endocytosis (Lucifer yellow uptake), and Na/H antiport activation. The current study was undertaken to determine whether such cells exhibit similar responses after having been maintained in primary culture.

Methods: Cells were isolated from 2-kg, juvenile male New Zealand White rabbits and maintained in a supplemented DMEM/Ham's F-12 medium for up to 72 hours.

Renal adaptation to dietary phosphate deprivation: role of proximal tubule brush-border membrane fluidity.

With dietary phosphate (Pi) restriction, fluidity of renal proximal tubule brush-border membranes (BBM) and Na-dependent Pi transport (Na-Pi) are increased, suggesting that changes in BBM fluidity are critical for adaptation to Pi restriction. To test this hypothesis, the temporal relationship between Na-Pi transport and changes in BBM fluidity was assessed after Pi deprivation in rats. Renal cortex was obtained from rats fed either a 0.

Synthesis and characterization of a new fluorescent probe for measuring potassium.

A new fluorescent probe, 6,7-(4-methyl)coumaro-[2.2.2] cryptand, has been developed for measuring K+.

Induction of hypertrophy in cultured proximal tubule cells by extracellular NH4Cl.

Ammonia production increases in several models of renal hypertrophy in vivo. The present study was designed to determine whether ammonia can directly modulate the growth of renal cells in the absence of a change in extracellular acidity. In serum-free media NH4Cl (0-20 mM) caused JTC cells and a primary culture of rabbit proximal tubule cells to hypertrophy (increase in cell protein content) in a dose-dependent fashion without a change in DNA synthesis.

Cl-/base exchange in rat mesangial cells: regulation of intracellular pH.

The present study was designed to determine whether rat glomerular mesangial cells possess Cl- -dependent intracellular pH (pHi) regulatory processes. Rat glomerular mesangial cells were grown to confluence on glass coverslips. Intracellular pH (pHi) was measured with BCECF.