Amiloride inhibits most plasma membrane Na+ transport systems. We have reviewed the pharmacology of inhibition of these transporters by amiloride and its analogs. Thorough studies of the Na+ channel, the Na+/H+ exchanger, and the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger, clearly show that appropriate modification of the structure of amiloride will generate analogs with increased affinity and specificity for a particular transport system. Introduction of hydrophobic substituents on the terminal nitrogen of the guanidino moiety enhances activity against the Na+ channel; whereas addition of hydrophobic (or hydrophilic) groups on the 5-amino moiety enhances activity against the Na+/H+ exchanger. Activity against the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger and Ca2+ channel is increased with hydrophobic substituents at either of these sites. Appropriate modification of amiloride has produced analogs that are several hundred-fold more active than amiloride against specific transporters. The availability of radioactive and photoactive amiloride analogs, anti-amiloride antibodies, and analogs coupled to support matrices should prove useful in future studies of amiloride-sensitive transport systems. The use of amiloride and its analogs in the study of ion transport requires a knowledge of the pharmacology of inhibition of transport proteins, as well as effects on enzymes, receptors, and other cellular processes, such as DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis, and cellular metabolism. One must consider whether the effects seen on various cellular processes are direct or due to a cascade of events triggered by an effect on an ion transport system.

Amiloride and its analogs as tools in the study of ion transport.

Molecular medicine has led to rapid advances in the characterization of hepatobiliary transport systems that determine the uptake and excretion of bile salts and other biliary constituents in the l...

https://www.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/physrev.00027.2002

Bile Salt Transporters: Molecular Characterization, Function, and Regulation

IN mammals, active transport of organic solutes across plasma membranes was thought to be primarily driven by the Na+ gradient1–3. Here we report the cloning and functional characterization of a H+-coupled transporter of oligopeptides and peptide-derived antibiotics from rabbit small intestine. This new protein, named PepT1, displays an unusually broad substrate specificity. PepT1-mediated uptake is electrogenic, independent of extracellular Na+, K+ and Cl−, and of membrane potential. PepT1 messenger RNA was found in intestine, kidney and liver and in small amounts in brain. In the intestine, the PepTl pathway constitutes a major mechanism for absorption of the products of protein digestion. To our knowledge, the PepT1 primary structure is the first reported for a proton-coupled organic solute transporter in vertebrates and represents an interesting evolutionary link between prokaryotic H+-coupled and vertebrate Na+-coupled transporters of organic solutes.

Expression cloning of a mammalian proton-coupled oligopeptide transporter

The transport of amino acids in kidney and intestine is critical for the supply of amino acids to all tissues and the homeostasis of plasma amino acid levels. This is illustrated by a number of inherited disorders affecting amino acid transport in epithelial cells, such as cystinuria, lysinuric protein intolerance, Hartnup disorder, iminoglycinuria, dicarboxylic aminoaciduria, and some other less well-described disturbances of amino acid transport. The identification of most epithelial amino acid transporters over the past 15 years allows the definition of these disorders at the molecular level and provides a clear picture of the functional cooperation between transporters in the apical and basolateral membranes of mammalian epithelial cells. Transport of amino acids across the apical membrane not only makes use of sodium-dependent symporters, but also uses the proton-motive force and the gradient of other amino acids to efficiently absorb amino acids from the lumen. In the basolateral membrane, antiporters cooperate with facilitators to release amino acids without depleting cells of valuable nutrients. With very few exceptions, individual amino acids are transported by more than one transporter, providing backup capacity for absorption in the case of mutational inactivation of a transport system.

Amino acid transport across mammalian intestinal and renal epithelia.

Na+/H+ exchange and growth factor-induced cytosolic pH changes. Role in cellular proliferation.

Experiments with basolateral membrane vesicles prepared from rat kidney cortex were performed to study the mechanism by which p-aminohippuric acid (PAH) is taken up across the contraluminal membrane and is concentrated in proximal tubule cells. An inward Na+ gradient failed to stimulate [3H]PAH uptake compared with K+ or Li+ and did not cause intravesicular PAH accumulation above equilibrium distribution. In the absence of Na+, the dicarboxylates glutarate and suberate cis-inhibited and trans-stimulated [3H]PAH uptake, indicating a common transport system. In the presence of Na+, 10 microM glutarate in the incubation medium did not cis-inhibit, but rather stimulated [3H]PAH uptake and caused PAH accumulation above equilibrium distribution ("overshoot"). Li+ diminished this stimulation, but was without effect on [3H]PAH/PAH- and [3H]PAH/glutarate exchange. The data indicate the coexistence of a Na+ -coupled, Li+-sensitive transport system for dicarboxylates and a Li+ -insensitive PAH/dicarboxylate exchanger in the basolateral membrane. We propose that dicarboxylates are cotransported with Na+ into the cell and subsequently exchange for extracellular PAH at the basolateral membrane. PAH uptake is thereby indirectly coupled to Na+ via the Na+/dicarboxylate cotransporter.

Gerhard Burckhardt

Papers

Indirect coupling to Na+ of p-aminohippuric acid uptake into rat renal basolateral membrane vesicles

Characteristics of glycylsarcosine transport in rabbit intestinal brush-border membrane vesicles.

The effects of potassium and membrane potential on sodium-dependent glutamic acid uptake.

Membrane transport of anions across epithelia of mammalian small intestine and kidney proximal tubule.

Proton pathways in rat renal brush-border and basolateral membranes