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Potassium transport and intracellular potassium activities in rabbit gallbladder

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Summary

Intracellular K activities, (K) c , in rabbit gallbladder were determined using conventional and ion-selective microelectrodes. (K) c averaged 73mm and was 1.5 times that predicted for an equilibrium distribution of the ion across both apical and basolateral membranes. Thus, K must be actively transported into the cell, and the responsible mechanism is almost certainly the Na−K exchange pump in the basolateral membrane.

Measurements of the bidirectional transepithelial fluxes of42K indicate that K is secreted into the mucosal solution at a rate of 0.8 μeq/cm2 hr; this value is only 6% of the rate of transcellular Na absorption by this epithelium.

Calculation of the conductance of the basolateral membrane,G s, reveals that it is too low to account for the maintenance of the steady-state (K) c by a 3 Na∶2 K pump mechanism at the basolateral membrane if K exit across that barrier is entirely electrodiffusional.

Our results together with those of others strongly suggest that a significant fraction of “downhill” K exit from the cell across the basolateral membrane is nonconductive and coupled to the movement of some other ion, perhaps Cl.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, University of Texas, Medical School at Houston, 77025, Houston, Texas

    Pamela J. Gunter-Smith & Stanley G. Schultz

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  1. Pamela J. Gunter-Smith
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  2. Stanley G. Schultz
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Gunter-Smith, P.J., Schultz, S.G. Potassium transport and intracellular potassium activities in rabbit gallbladder. J. Membrain Biol. 65, 41–47 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01870467

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