Effects of the medium HCO3-/CO2 buffer system on differentiation and intermediary metabolism properties of rabbit proximal tubule cells in primary culture.

In vivo, bicarbonate can affect proximal tubule intermediary metabolism, including gluconeogenesis, ammoniagenesis and maintenance of the mitochondrial substrate supply. In vitro, rabbit proximal tubule cells (RPTC) in primary culture revert from gluconeogenesis to glycolysis and their mitochondrial metabolism remains lower than in vivo. To determine whether the bicarbonate buffer system could have an effect on these deregulations, RPTC in primary culture grown in the absence of insulin and glucose in the culture medium were developed either with the standard sodium bicarbonate buffer with 5% CO2 or with a Hepes hydrogen ion buffer in the presence of 0.5% CO2. Duration of the bicarbonate-free cultures was increased until at least day 17 after seeding, compared with day 11 in bicarbonate-buffered cultures. As could be expected, succinate dehydrogenase activity remained stable as a function of time in bicarbonate-free cultures while an early marked decrease of this activity occurred from seeding in cultures developed in the presence of bicarbonate buffer. Compared to bicarbonate-buffered cells, higher phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activity concomitant with lower intracellular lactate dehydrogenase activity was observed in cultures developed in the absence of bicarbonate, which is indicative of closer carbohydrate metabolism orientation to the in vivo situation for RPTC. Immunofluorescence staining of RPTC with monoclonal antibodies directed to neutral endopeptidase (NEP), and dipeptidyl-peptidase IV (DPP II) showed similar extensive labelling with DPP and NEP in both culture conditions. Confocal microscopy analysis of NEP subcellular distribution, showed exclusive targetting of NEP to the apical plasma membranes. In both models, cAMP production was stimulated by parathyroid hormone and unaffected by arginine vasopressin. In conclusion, bicarbonate withdrawal from the culture medium (without changing the pH of the medium) allows a marked improvement of mitochondrial capacity and carbohydrate metabolism pattern without any loss of differentiated properties.