Abstract
About 50% of the Na(+) reabsorbed in thick ascending limbs traverses the paracellular pathway. Nitric oxide (NO) reduces the permselectivity of this pathway via cGMP, but its effects on absolute Na(+) ([Formula: see text]) and Cl(-) ([Formula: see text]) permeabilities are unknown. To address this, we measured the effect of l-arginine (0.5 mmol/l; NO synthase substrate) and cGMP (0.5 mmol/l) on [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] calculated from the transepithelial resistance (R(t)) and [Formula: see text]/[Formula: see text] in medullary thick ascending limbs. R(t) was 7,722 ± 1,554 ohm·cm in the control period and 6,318 ± 1,757 ohm·cm after l-arginine treatment (P < 0.05). [Formula: see text]/[Formula: see text] was 2.0 ± 0.2 in the control period and 1.7 ± 0.1 after l-arginine (P < 0.04). Calculated [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] were 3.52 ± 0.2 and 1.81 ± 0.10 × 10(-5) cm/s, respectively, in the control period. After l-arginine they were 6.65 ± 0.69 (P < 0.0001 vs. control) and 3.97 ± 0.44 (P < 0.0001) × 10(-5) cm/s, respectively. NOS inhibition with N(ω)-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (5 mmol/l) prevented l-arginine's effect on R(t) Next we tested the effect of cGMP. R(t) in the control period was 7,592 ± 1,470 and 4,796 ± 847 ohm·cm after dibutyryl-cGMP (0.5 mmol/l; db-cGMP) treatment (P < 0.04). [Formula: see text]/[Formula: see text] was 1.8 ± 0.1 in the control period and 1.6 ± 0.1 after db-cGMP (P < 0.03). [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] were 4.58 ± 0.80 and 2.66 ± 0.57 × 10(-5) cm/s, respectively, for the control period and 9.48 ± 1.63 (P < 0.007) and 6.01 ± 1.05 (P < 0.005) × 10(-5) cm/s, respectively, after db-cGMP. We modeled NO's effect on luminal Na(+) concentration along the thick ascending limb. We found that NO's effect on the paracellular pathway reduces net Na(+) reabsorption and that the magnitude of this effect is similar to that due to NO's inhibition of transcellular transport.