Coupled water transport by rat proximal tubule

Simultaneous microperfusion of proximal tubules and peritubular capillaries in kidneys of rats anesthetized with Inactin was used to examine water reabsorption by this epithelium. Osmolality of the luminal solution was varied with changes in NaCl concentration and by the addition of raffinose. Capillary perfusates contained either low (2 g/dl) or high (16 g/dl) concentrations of albumin. We used low-bicarbonate perfusates for both lumen and capillary so that we might apply the nonequilibrium thermodynamic model of transport for a single solute (NaCl) to interpret our observations. Linear regression with the volume flux equation Jv = -Lp delta II - Lp sigma delta C + Jav (where Jv is volume flux, Lp is hydraulic conductance, delta II is oncotic force, sigma is osmotic reflection coefficient, delta C is salt concentration difference, and Jav is the component of Jv not attributed to transepithelial hydrostatic or osmotic forces) revealed a tubule water permeability (Pf = 0.11 +/- 0.01 cm/s) and a sigma (0.74 +/- 0.08) in agreement with previous determinations. These transport parameters were unaffected by changes in peritubular protein. We also found that Jav was substantial, approximately three-fourths of the rate of isotonic transport under these perfusion conditions. Further, this component of water transport nearly doubled with the transition from low- to high-protein peritubular capillary perfusion. When expressed as a capacity for water reabsorption against an osmotic gradient, the salt concentration differences required to null volume flux were 13.2 +/- 2.4 and 29.4 +/- 4.0 mosmol/kgH2O under low and high peritubular protein. Our data suggest that this protein effect is, most likely, an increase in solute transport by the tubule epithelial cells.