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Challenges to potassium metabolism: internal distribution and external balance

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Summary

A complex pump-leak system involving both active and passive transport mechanisms is responsible for the appropriate distribution of potassium (K) between the intra- and extracellular fluid compartments. In addition, the kidneys, and to a lesser extent the colon, safeguard maintenance of the narrow range of low K concentrations in the extracellular fluid. Early renal clearance studies showed that K is normally both reabsorbed and secreted by renal tubules, and that regulated secretion is the major source of K excretion. Net K secretion occurs mainly in principal cells while K absorption takes place in intercalated cells. Studies on single tubules and principal and intercalated cells have defined the determinants of K secretion and reabsorption including the electrochemical driving forces, specific carriers, ATPases, and K channels. Recent studies on the properties and molecular identity of renal K channels have also contributed significantly to understanding the renal mechanisms that transport and regulate K excretion.

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  1. Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, 06520-8026, New Haven, CT, U.S.A.

    Gerhard Giebisch

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Giebisch, G. Challenges to potassium metabolism: internal distribution and external balance. Wien Klin Wochenschr 116, 353–366 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03040914

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