Fluorescent stilbene (BADS) binding proteins in anion-transporting epithelia

Chloride transport occurs at the interface between the internal and external environments of a cell where chloride uptake or efflux is regulated through a variety of mechanisms that involve cotransport of cations, exchange mechanism with anions, or movement through channels. One of these mechanisms, a chloride-bicarbonate exchange found in the human red blood cell, is well characterized and is mediated by a protein commonly known as band 3. To ascertain the presence of this or other mechanisms in epithelia, the sensitivity of epithelial membranes toward stilbenes was examined. Structure function activities of stilbene derivatives with red cell ghosts show that stilbene molecules block anion transport sites. One of these stilbenes, 4-benzamido-4'-aminostilbene-2-2'-disulfonic acid (BADS), chosen for its property of enhanced fluorescence on binding to hydrophobic sites, was used as a probe to examine the presence or absence of similar sites on epithelial membranes. With the use of nonlinear curve fitting, a single class of sites was found for BADS in the rat kidney cortex (1.6 microM), rat kidney medulla (2.1 microM), rat small intestine (2.2 microM), rat pancreatic islets (5.8 microM), frog cornea (4.3 microM), and shark rectal gland (1.5 microM). In the presence of chloride, the affinity for BADS decreased in all tissues except the frog corneal epithelium where it remained unchanged. The binding of BADS could be displaced by loop diuretics (furosemide, bumetanide, and piretanide) and thiocyanate anion in the kidney, intestine, and shark rectal gland; 50% displacement occurred at approximately 40 microM concentrations for furosemide with an order of magnitude less for bumetanide. The near-millimolar concentrations required for the displacement of BADS by loop diuretics indicate that this effect is nonspecific. However, the effect of chloride, thiocyanate, and loop diuretics on the binding of BADS indicates that BADS possibly interacts with an anion site.