Oxygen consumption and active sodium and chloride transport in bovine tracheal epithelium

The O2 consumption (Jr) and the short-circuit current (Ji) were measured simultaneously in bovine tracheal epithelium in vitro. In this tissue, Ji is the sum of two active transport processes, Cl- secretion and Na+ absorption. Jr was determined from the decrease of PO2 in the incubation solution, at 37 +/- 0.05 degrees C and at a PO2 around 600 torr. Microbial contamination and leaks of dissolved O2 from the solution never exceeded 4% of the rate of PO2 decrease due to the O2 consumption of the tissue. Ji and Jr were stable over 5 h of incubation under standard conditions. Ji was 106 +/- 4 nequiv min-1 cm-2 and Jr was 39.8 +/- 1.1 nmol O2 min-1 cm-2 (mean +/- S.E., n = 46). Ji was varied with several agents known to affect ion transport across the tracheal epithelium. Na+ absorption was inhibited partly with amiloride or completely following Na+ substitution with choline. Cl- secretion was selectively suppressed by furosemide. Ji was also reduced to a very low level, using ouabain or K+ suppression to inhibit the Na+-K+-ATPase. All these manoeuvres resulted in significant reductions of both Ji and Jr. Basal Jr was not affected when Ji was modified. A plot of the relative change in suprabasal Jr versus the relative change of Ji gave a straight line (r = 0.98, n = 60). A plot using absolute values yielded a stoichiometric ratio of 13.9 ions per O2 molecule, for Na+ as well as for Cl-. The stoichiometric ratio was also calculated for each experiment. Its mean value was 14.9 ions per O2 molecule. The population of the ratios was widely dispersed, but this was explained as a predictable statistical phenomenon.