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Updated: May 24, 2026

Culturing Primary Rat Inner Medullary Collecting Duct Cells
Published on: June 21, 2013
A new role for aquaporin 7 in insulin secretion
Karim Louchami1, Len Best, Peter Brown
1Laboratory of Experimental Hormonology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
Unlabelled:
BACGROUNS/AIMS: Several insulinotropic agents were recently reported to cause β-cell swelling. The possible participation of AQP7 to water transport was investigated in AQP7(+/+) or AQP7(-/-) mice.
Methods:
Aquaporin expression, insulin secretion, cell swelling and electrical activity were investigated in pancreatic islets.
Results:
RT-PCR revealed the expression of AQP5 and AQP8 mRNA. Double immunofluorescent labeling indicated their presence in β-cells. Whilst basal insulin release from isolated pancreatic islets incubated at 2.8 mM D-glucose did not differ between AQP7(+/+) or AQP7(-/-) mice, the secretion of insulin evoked by the omission of 50 mM NaCl, the substitution of 50 mM NaCl by 100 mM glycerol or a rise in D-glucose concentration to 8.3 mM and 16.7 mM was severely impaired in the islets from AQP7(-/-) mice. Yet, exposure of β-cells to either the hypotonic medium or a rise in D-glucose concentration caused a similar degree of swelling and comparable pattern of electrical activity in cells from AQP7(+/+) and AQP7(-/-) mice. Both the cell swelling and change in membrane potential were only impaired in AQP7(-/-) cells when exposed to 50 mM glycerol.
Conclusion:
It is proposed, therefore, that AQP7 may, directly or indirectly, play a role at a distal site in the exocytotic pathway.
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