cAMP-binding proteins in medullary tubules from rat kidney: effect of ADH.

Little is known of the regulatory steps in the cellular action of vasopressin (AVP) on the renal epithelium, subsequent to the cAMP generation. We studied cAMP-binding proteins in the medullary collecting tubule (MCT) and the thick ascending limb of Henle's loop (MTAL) microdissected from the rat kidney by use of photoaffinity labeling. Microdissected tubules were homogenized and photoaffinity labeled by incubation with 1 microM 32P-labeled 8-azido-adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (N3-8-[32P]-cAMP); the incorporated 32P was analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and autoradiography. Both in MCT and MTAL preparations, the analyses showed incorporation of N3-8-[32P]cAMP into two bands (Mr = 49,000 and Mr = 55,000) that comigrated with standards of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase regulatory subunits RI and RII. In MCT, most of the 32P (80%) was incorporated into RI, whereas in MTAL the 32P incorporated into RI and RII was equivalent. When freshly dissected MCT segments were incubated with 10(-12)-10(-6) M AVP, the subsequent photoaffinity labeling of RI with N3-8-[32P]cAMP was markedly diminished in a dose-dependent manner compared with controls. Our results suggest that cAMP binds in MCT and MTAL to regulatory subunits RI and RII of cAMP-dependent protein kinase. However, in MCT the dominant type of cAMP-dependent protein kinase appears to be type I. The outlined procedure is suitable to indirectly measure the occupancy of RI by endogenous cAMP generated in MCT cells in response to physiological levels (10(-12) M) of AVP.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)