The AQP2 water channel: effect of vasopressin treatment, microtubule disruption, and distribution in neonatal rats

Aquaporin 2 is a collecting duct water channel that is located in apical vesicles and in the apical plasma membrane of collecting duct principal cells. It shares 42% identity with the proximal tubule/thin descending limb water channel, CHIP28. The present study was aimed at addressing three questions concerning the location and behavior of the AQP2 protein under different conditions. First, does the AQP2 channel relocate to the apical membrane after vasopressin treatment? Our results show that AQP2 is diffusely distributed in cytoplasmic vesicles in collecting duct principal cells of homozygous Brattleboro rats that lack vasopressin. In rats injected with exogenous vasopressin, however, AQP2 became concentrated in the apical plasma membrane of principal cells, as determined by immunofluorescence and immunogold electron microscopy. This behavior is consistent with the idea that AQP2 is the vasopressin-sensitive water channel. Second, is the cellular location of AQP2 modified by microtubule disruption? In normal rats, AQP2 has a mainly apical and subapical location in principal cells, but in colchicine-treated rats, it is distributed on vesicles that are scattered throughout the entire cytoplasm. This is consistent with the dependence on microtubules of apical protein targeting in many cell types, and explains the inhibitory effect of microtubule disruption on the hydroosmotic response to vasopressin in sensitive epithelia, including the collecting duct. Third, is AQP2 present in neonatal rat kidneys? We show that AQP2 is abundant in principal cells from neonatal rats at all days after birth. The detection of AQP2 in early neonatal kidneys indicates that a lack of this protein is not responsible for the relatively weak urinary concentrating response to vasopressin seen in neonatal rats.