Lecture 7: Transport in the Proximal Tubule Flashcards
Where does proximal tubule begin?
At the urinary pole of Bowman’s capsule
Urinary pole = area at which the urinary space of Bowman’s capsule converge
What are the two parts of proximal tubule?
- PCT
- Proximal Straight tubule
In both the superficial nephron and juxtamedullary nephron, the PST will end in the outer stripe of the outer medulla
What are the histological features of PCT?
- Tall brush border
- Extensive vacuolar-lysosomal system
- basolateral membrane invaginations
- Interdigitation with neighboring cells
- extensive elongated mitochondria
Its cells are bigger than cells of PST
What are the histological features of PST?
- shorter brush border
- smaller mitochondria
- less complicated basolateral membrane structure
What is the function of the proximal tubule?
Absorbs 2/3 of glomerular ultrafiltrate
~180L/day filtered and 120L/d reabsorbed
Rate of Na reabsorption is second highest in PCT
Rate of Na reabsorption decreases when it gets to PST
Reabsorption occurs isoosmotically because water follows
What is the difference between reabsorption rates of PCT and PST?
PCT is twice as fast as PST
How do you study nephron physiology?
Take two pipettes
One end perfuses one end of tubule and the other end collects fluid (using oil)
Can measure voltage difference at two ends
What drives transepithelial membrane transport of water?
Oncotic and hydrostatic pressure gradients
What drives transepithelial membrane transport of solutes?
- active and passive transport processes
- transepithelial electrochemical gradients
- apical membrane-cell and basolateral membrane-cell electrochemical gradients
- “Solvent drag”
What is responsible for bridging the gap between cells?
- tight junction
- claudins
- Adherens junction
- E-cadherin
Cells and compounds get through
Membrane either paracellulary
Or transcellularly
What is tertiary active transport?
Na/K atpase drives secondary Transport (Na/H antiport) Increased Na to the cell due to Secondary active transport Creates an additional electric gradient That will lead to influx of Cl- through Cl/HCO3- antiport (just an example)
Where is the Na/K atpase localized on the cell of the nephron?
Always on the basolateral membrane
What is the pars recta?
The other name for proximal straight tubule
PR = pars recta = PST
What is Na/K ATPase activity of PCT vs Thick ascending limb (medullary and cortical) and DCT?
Thick ascending limb and DCT has much higher Na/ATPase activity
Everything else has lower Na/K activity compared to PCT
What segments of the nephron have the highest water permeability?
PCT
PST
Thin descending limb
Vasopressin does NOT change the permeability of these guys
What segments of nephron have low water permeability?
Thin ascending limb
Thick ascending limb
DCT
Collecting ducts (EXCEPT when you give ADH)
What is difference between leaky and tight epithelium?
Leaky = does not maintain gradients because everything passes through it (except for inulin) Tight = there is a gradient maintained because only certain things pass through it
Does proximal tubule contribute to urinary dilution or concentration?
NO
Concentration/dilution is dealt with at later segments
Proximal tubule is isotonic to plasma
Are there aquaporins in the proximal tubule?
Yes for transcellular transport
AQP1
How does water get reabsorbed in PCT?
Through Aquaporin 1 transcellularly
And interstitial hypertonicity paracellularly
What is the primary driving force for water reabsorption in prox tubule?
Osmotic gradient between fluid and lumen…LINKED TO SODIUM
Sodium gradient = water reabsorption
On the apical membrane of the PCT, you have sodium channels, Na/H antiports and Na/glucose symports that bring Na into the cell
Gradient is maintained by Na/K ATPase on basolateral membrane
How does Ca, Mg2+ and Cl- move from lumen to capillary?
Paracellulary
How is Cl- absorbed in PT?
Sodium transport transcellulary from lumen will pull Cl- along with it as well
Cl- goes through paracellulary
There appears to be no NaCl coupled cotransport!
What is the difference in NaCl absorption in PT and DT (proximal and distal)?
PT does not have NaCl cotransport (they are taken up separately)
DT does have NaCl symporters
How does glucose get absorbed from the lumen in the PCT? PST?
In the PCT, the SGLT2 is used to absorb Na and glucose at a 1:1 Na/glucose ratio
-GLUT2 transporters on basolateral membrane
In the PST, the SGLT1 is used to absorb Na and glucose at 2:1 Na/glucose ratio
-GLUT1 transporters on basolateral membrane