Evidence for mitochondrial origin of the HCO3(-)-ATPase in brush border membranes of rat proximal tubules

H. Knauf, M. Sellinger, K. Haag and U. Wais High HCO3(-)-ATPase activity is known to exist in mitochondria of renal tubular cells. In brush border membrane (BBM) preparations of proximal tubules such an anion-stimulated enzyme was also found. However, these preparations always contained mitochondrial markers. The putative localization and the role of this ATPase in BBM is still controversial. Some authors consider the HCO3(-)-ATPase in the BBM to be a mitochondrial contamination; others attribute to this ATPase a key role in H+ transport in the proximal tubule. To reinvestigate this problem, BBMs from rat kidney cortex were isolated by a simple, rapid (1.5-h) Ca2+-precipitation method, yielding a BBM fraction enriched 12.4-fold with respect to the marker enzyme leucine aminopeptidase (LAP). There was no basolateral Na+-K+-ATPase and no mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase detectable. Cytochrome c oxidase was drastically reduced to 7 +/- 1% of that observed in the homogenate (TH). The activity of HCO3(-)-ATPase in the BBM fraction was 19 +/- 4 IU/g protein, i.e., 27% that of the homogenate. As sonication of the TH exclusively increases the activity of HCO3(-)-ATPase, its relative activity was 7.5% and thus equal to that of the mitochondrial marker. In many BBM preparations no HCO3(-)-ATPase was detectable. In those BBM preparations in which traces of HCO3(-)-ATPase were found, this activity coincided with that of cytochrome c oxidase in the respective preparation. There was a constant activity ratio of cytochrome c oxidase/HCO3(-)-ATPase in the TH, BBM, and pellet 1. The activity of HCO3(-)-ATPase in BBM did not depend on the activity of LAP.