Action of Protein Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors on the Hypotonicity-Stimulated Trafficking Kinetics of Epithelial Na+ Channels (ENaC) in Renal Epithelial Cells: Analysis Using a Mathematical Model.

Background/aims: Epithelial Na+ channels (ENaCs) play crucial roles in control of blood pressure by determining the total amount of renal Na+ reabsorption, which is regulated by various factors such as aldosterone, vasopressin, insulin and osmolality. The intracellular trafficking process of ENaCs regulates the amount of the ENaC-mediated Na+ reabsorption in the collecting duct of the kidney mainly by determining the number of ENaC expressed at the apical membrane of epithelial cells. Although we previously reported protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) contributed to the ENaC-mediated epithelial Na+ reabsorption, we have no information on the role of PTKs in the intracellular ENaC trafficking.

Methods: Using the mathematical model recently established in our laboratory, we studied the effect of PTKs inhibitors (PTKIs), AG1296 (10 µM: an inhibitor of the PDGF receptor (PDGFR)) and AG1478 (10 µM: an inhibitor of the EGF receptor (EGFR)) on the rates of the intracellular ENaC trafficking in renal epithelial A6 cells endogenously expressing ENaCs.

Results: We found that application of PTKIs significantly reduced the insertion rate of ENaC to the apical membrane by 56%, the recycling rate of ENaC by 83%, the cumulative time of an individual ENaC staying in the apical membrane by 27%, the whole life-time after the first insertion of ENaC by 47%, and the cumulative Na+ absorption by 61%, while the degradation rate was increased to 3.8-fold by application of PTKIs. These observations indicate that PTKs contribute to the processes of insertion, recycling and degradation of ENaC in the intracellular trafficking process under a hypotonic condition.

Conclusion: The present study indicates that application of EGFR and PDGFR-inhibitable PTKIs reduced the insertion rate (kI), and the recycling rate (kR) of ENaCs, but increased degradation rate (kD) in renal A6 epithelial cells under a hypotonic condition. These observations indicate that hypotonicity increases the surface expression of ENaCs by increasing the insertion rate (kI) and the recycling rate (kR) of ENaCs associated with a decrease in the degradation rate but without any significant effects on the endocytotic rate (kE) in EGFR and PDGFR-related PTKs-mediated pathways.