Receptors and effectors in hormone action on the kidney

An analysis is presented of the similarities and differences in receptor-effector relationships in the actions of aldosterone and triiodothyronine on the kidney. Both agents augment tubular reabsorption of sodium at different sites in the nephron. Aldosterone acts primarily distally and triiodothyronine, primarily proximally. In both cases, the respective hormone-receptor complexes associate with target cell chromatin and modulate the abundance of specific coding by mRNAs for regulatory proteins. The quantitative relationships between nuclear-receptor occupancy and responses were analyzed by fractional plots in a bounded domain. When applied to the toad bladder, this analysis revealed a parabolic dependence of the increase in transepithelial Na+ transport on the abundance of nuclear of the increase in transepithelial Na+ transport on the abundance of nuclear aldosterone-receptor complexes. In contrast, four independent response parameters (QO2, QO2(t), Na-K-ATPase, alpha-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase) exhibited a hyperbolic dependence on nuclear abundance of T3 in the rat kidney. The observed cosaturation of nuclear occupancy and responses in both systems, for both hormones, implies that the respective high-affinity binding sites are authentic receptors. Further information is needed on the molecular bases of the nonlinear response-occupancy relationships in hormone action on the kidney.