Murine epithelial sodium (Na⁺) channel regulation by biliary factors

The epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) mediates Na⁺ transport in several epithelia, including the aldosterone-sensitive distal nephron, distal colon, and biliary epithelium. Numerous factors regulate ENaC activity, including extracellular ligands, post-translational modifications, and membrane-resident lipids. However, ENaC regulation by bile acids and conjugated bilirubin, metabolites that are abundant in the biliary tree and intestinal tract and are sometimes elevated in the urine of individuals with advanced liver disease, remains poorly understood. Here, using a Xenopus oocyte-based system to express and functionally study ENaC, we found that, depending on the bile acid used, bile acids both activate and inhibit mouse ENaC. Whether bile acids were activating or inhibiting was contingent on the position and orientation of specific bile acid moieties. For example, a hydroxyl group at the 12-position and facing the hydrophilic side (12α-OH) was activating. Taurine-conjugated bile acids, which have reduced membrane permeability, affected ENaC activity more strongly than did their more membrane-permeant unconjugated counterparts, suggesting that bile acids regulate ENaC extracellularly. Bile acid-dependent activation was enhanced by amino acid substitutions in ENaC that depress open probability and was precluded by proteolytic cleavage that increases open probability, consistent with an effect of bile acids on ENaC open probability. Bile acids also regulated ENaC in a cortical collecting duct cell line, mirroring the results in Xenopus oocytes. We also show that bilirubin conjugates activate ENaC. These results indicate that ENaC responds to compounds abundant in bile and that their ability to regulate this channel depends on the presence of specific functional groups.