The renal proximal tubule (PT) is a major site for maintaining whole body pH homeostasis and is responsible for reabsorbing ∼80% of filtered HCO3(-), the major plasma buffer, into the blood. The PT adapts its rate of HCO3(-) reabsorption (JHCO3(-)) in response to acute acid-base disturbances. Our laboratory previously showed that single isolated perfused PTs adapt JHCO3(-) in response to isolated changes in basolateral (i.e., blood side) CO2 and HCO3(-) concentrations but, surprisingly, not to pH. The response to CO2 concentration can be blocked by the ErbB family tyrosine kinase inhibitor PD-168393. In the present study, we exposed enriched rabbit PT suspensions to five acute acid-base disturbances for 5 and 20 min using a panel of phosphotyrosine (pY)-specific antibodies to determine the influence of each disturbance on pan-pY, ErbB1-specific pY (four sites), and ErbB2-specific pY (two sites). We found that each acid-base treatment generated a distinct temporal pY pattern. For example, the summated responses of the individual ErbB1/2-pY sites to each disturbance showed that metabolic acidosis (normal CO2 concentration and reduced HCO3(-) concentration) produced a transient summated pY decrease (5 vs. 20 min), whereas metabolic alkalosis produced a transient increase. Respiratory acidosis (normal HCO3(-) concentration and elevated CO2 concentration) had little effect on summated pY at 5 min but produced an elevation at 20 min, whereas respiratory alkalosis produced a reduction at 20 min. Our data show that ErbB1 and ErbB2 in the PT respond to acute acid-base disturbances, consistent with the hypothesis that they are part of the signaling cascade.
Keywords: ErbB1; ErbB2; acid-base; phosphotyrosine; proximal tubule.