Cellular distribution and differential gene expression of the three alpha subunit isoforms of the Na,K-ATPase in the ocular ciliary epithelium.

We have investigated the localization and pattern of expression of the three alpha subunit isoforms of Na,K-ATPase in the transporting ciliary epithelium of the bovine eye. Using specific cDNA probes and antisera to the alpha 1, alpha 2, and alpha 3 isoforms of Na,K-ATPase, we demonstrated that mRNAs and polypeptides for the three distinct forms of the Na,K-ATPase alpha subunit (alpha 1, alpha 2, and alpha 3) were expressed in the ciliary epithelium in vivo. Immunochemical localization of the three alpha isoforms of Na,K-ATPase in two ultrastructurally different regions of the ciliary epithelium (namely, the pars plicata and pars plana) revealed that the three alpha isoforms of Na,K-ATPase were distributed in a distinct fashion in the basolateral plasma membrane domains of nonpigmented (NPE) and pigmented (PE) cells. The NPE cells in the pars plicata showed an immunoreactive signal to all the three alpha isoforms; in the pars plana, they showed immunoreactive signals only for the alpha 1 and alpha 2 isoforms but not for alpha 3. The PE cells, in both the pars plana and pars plicata regions, showed an immunoreactive signal only for the alpha 1 isoform; immunoreactive signals were not detected for alpha 2 and alpha 3. To verify the differential immunostaining patterns of NPE and PE cells, specific antibodies for each of the three alpha subunit isoforms of Na,K-ATPase were applied to immunoblots containing microsomal fractions from flow cytometric-sorted cells (NPE and PE). Our results indicate that alpha 1, alpha 2, and alpha 3 polypeptides were present in microsomal fractions of NPE cells of the pars plicata and pars plana and that the alpha 1 polypeptide was the only polypeptide present in the PE cells from both regions of the ciliary epithelium. These results also revealed that the alpha 3 isoform epitope recognized by the monoclonal antibody McB-X3.1 in the pars plicata is not readily accessible in the pars plana. A cell line was established from the ciliary epithelium of a bovine eye by viral transformation with simian virus 40. In culture, this cell line expressed all three alpha isoforms at the mRNA and polypeptide levels, suggesting that the line may have derived from the NPE layer.