Regulation of lung surfactant secretion by intracellular pH

Abstract

We investigated secretion of lung surfactant phosphatidylcholine (PC) using isolated perfused rat lung preparation after labeling the lung lipids in vitro with [methyl-3H]choline. The perfusion medium was Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate buffer (pH 7.4) containing 10 mM glucose and 3% fatty acid-poor bovine serum albumin. After ventilation of lungs with air containing 5% CO2 (control) for 1 h, 0.91% +/- 0.04 (mean +/- SE, n = 6) of total lung lipid radioactivity (greater than 95% in PC) was recovered in the cell-free lavage fluid. The secretion of PC was increased with terbutaline (50 microM), 8-bromoadenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (8-BrcAMP, 100 microM), phorbol L2-myristate 13-acetate (30 ng/ml), and ATP (1 mM), in each case by approximately 150%. Secretion of PC was also increased by 160% if the lungs were ventilated with air containing 0% CO2. The low CO2-mediated PC secretion was time and concentration dependent. The dose-response curve for 0-10% CO2 was S-shaped. The low CO2-induced increase in PC secretion could be largely reversed with diffusible weak acids (25 mM, acetate or butyrate) in the perfusion medium. An increase (70%) in secretion was also induced with 10 mM NH4Cl, suggesting a role for intracellular alkalosis. These observations suggest that intracellular alkalosis stimulates lung surfactant secretion. Alkalosis-stimulated secretion of PC was additive with that with terbutaline (5 X 10(-7) to 5 X 10(-4) M) or 10(-4) M 8-BrcAMP, suggesting that alkalosis effect was not mediated through the beta-adrenergic pathway of surfactant secretion.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)