Characteristics of the proton pump in rat renal cortical endocytotic vesicles

The characteristics of the H+ pump in isolated rat renal endocytotic vesicles were studied by the delta pH-sensitive dye acridine orange, the voltage-sensitive dye 3,3'-dipropylthiadicarbocyanine iodide, and by a coupled optical ATPase assay. Intravesicular acidification depended on ATP and Mg2+ concentrations with half-maximal activations at 73 and 77 microM, respectively. CTP, GTP, UTP, and ITP partially supported acidification, but ADP and AMP did not. Ouabain, ethoxzolamide, levamisole, and vanadate did not inhibit H+ uptake into endocytotic vesicles. Oligomycin inhibited partially. Depending on concentration and preincubation time, Dio-9, filipin, N-ethylmaleimide (NEM), and dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCCD) inhibited H+ uptake completely. Filipin and, partially, DCCD acted nonspecifically by dissipating pH gradients. A specific cation was not required for the H+ pump; Zn2+ inhibited. Compared with mannitol, ATP-driven H+ uptake was stimulated by SCN- greater than Cl- greater than Br- greater than I- much greater than HPO4(2-) = gluconate = HCO3- = F-, but not by SO4(2-), NO3-, CH3COO-, S2O3(2-), and S4O6(2-). Chloride stimulated H+ uptake from the outside of the vesicles with an apparent Km of 27 mM. In the absence of Cl-, ATP-driven proton uptake was increased by intravesicular K+ and valinomycin, suggesting that the pump is electrogenic. The electrogenicity, however, could not be demonstrated with voltage-sensitive dyes. The vesicle membrane contains no significant K+ and Cl- conductances; only a conductance for H+ was found. The vesicles exhibited an ouabain-, oligomycin-, and vanadate-insensitive ATPase activity that was inhibited by DCCD and NEM. Our data indicate the presence of an electrogenic H+ pump in endocytotic vesicles from rat renal proximal tubules with similar characteristics as H+ pumps present in various intracellular (nonmitochondrial) membranes.