Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience (Dec 2014)

Extracellular Na+ levels regulate formation and activity of the NaX/alpha1-Na+/K+-ATPase complex in neuronal cells.

  • Emmanuelle eBerret,
  • Pascal Y. Smith,
  • Mélaine eHenry,
  • Denis eSoulet,
  • Sebastien S Hebert,
  • Katalin eTóth,
  • Didier eMouginot,
  • Guy eDrolet

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2014.00413
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8

Abstract

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MnPO neurons play a critical role in hydromineral homeostasis regulation by acting as sensors of extracellular sodium concentration ([Na+]out). The mechanism underlying Na+-sensing involves Na+-flow through the NaX channel, directly regulated by the Na+/K+-ATPase α1-isoform which controls Na+-influx by modulating channel permeability. Together, these two partners form a complex involved in the regulation of intracellular sodium ([Na+]in). Here we aim to determine whether environmental changes in Na+ could actively modulate the NaX/Na+/K+-ATPase complex activity.We investigated the complex activity using patch-clamp recordings from rat MnPO neurons and Neuro2a cells. When the rats were fed with a high-salt-diet, or the [Na+] in the culture medium was increased, the activity of the complex was up-regulated. In contrast, drop in environmental [Na+] decreased the activity of the complex. Interestingly under hypernatremic condition, the colocalization rate and protein level of both partners were up-regulated. Under hyponatremic condition, only NaX protein expression was increased and the level of NaX/Na+/K+-ATPase remained unaltered. This unbalance between NaX and Na+/K+-ATPase pump proportion would induce a bigger portion of Na+/K+-ATPase-control-free NaX channel. Thus we suggest that hypernatremic environment increases NaX/Na+/K+-ATPase α1-isoform activity by increasing the number of both partners and their colocalization rate, whereas hyponatremic environment down-regulates complex activity via a decrease in the relative number of NaX channels controlled by the pump.

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