Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:1.13.12.5 (aequorin)
 1,451 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Defective regulatory interactions between the cystic fibrosis conductance regulator (CFTR) and the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) have been implicated in the elevated Na+ transport rates across cystic fibrosis airway epithelium. It has recently been proposed that ENaC downregulation by CFTR depends on the ability of CFTR to conduct Cl- into the cell and is negligible when Cl- flows out of the cell. To study the mechanisms of this downregulation we have measured amiloride-inhibitable Na+ current (Iamil) in oocytes co-expressing rat ENaC and human wild-type CFTR. In oocytes voltage-clamped to -60 mV, stimulating CFTR with 1 mm IBMX reduced Iamil by up to 80%, demonstrating that ENaC is inhibited when Cl- is conducted out of the cell. Decreasing the level of CFTR stimulation in a single oocyte, decreased both the degree of Iamil downregulation and the CFTR-mediated plasma membrane Cl- conductance, suggesting a direct correlation. However, Iamil downregulation was not affected when Cl- flux across oocyte membrane was minimized by holding the oocyte membrane potential near the Cl- reversal potential (67% +/- 10% inhibition at -20 mV compared to 79% +/- 4% at -60 mV) demonstrating that Iamil downregulation was independent of the amount of current flow through CFTR. Studies with the Ca2+-sensitive photoprotein aequorin showed that Ca2+ is not involved in Iamil downregulation by CFTR, although Ca2+ injection into the cytoplasm did inhibit Iamil. These results demonstrate that downregulation of ENaC by CFTR depends on the degree of CFTR stimulation, but does not involve Ca2+ and is independent of the direction and magnitude of Cl- transport across the plasma membrane.
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PMID:Downregulation of epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) by CFTR co-expressed in Xenopus oocytes is independent of Cl- conductance. 1035 64