The Journal of General Physiology, Vol 98, 723-750, Copyright © 1991 by The Rockefeller University Press
Reconstitution of an epithelial chloride channel. Conservation of the channel from mudpuppy to man
LM Tsai, M Dillard, RL Rosenberg, RJ Falk, ML Gaido and AL Finn
Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599.
We have previously shown that monoclonal antibody E12 (MAb E12), one of
several such antibodies raised against theophylline-treated Necturus
gallbladder (NGB) epithelial cells, inhibits the chloride conductance in
the apical membrane of that tissue. Since chloride channels are critical to
the secretory function of epithelia in many different animals, we have used
this antibody to determine whether the channels are conserved, and in an
immunoaffinity column to isolate the channel protein. We now demonstrate
that MAb E12 cross-reacts with detergent- solubilized extracts of different
tissues from various species by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
Western blot analysis shows that this monoclonal antibody recognizes
proteins of Mr 219,000 in NGB, toad gallbladder, urinary bladder, and small
intestine, A6 cells, rat colon, rabbit gastric mucosa, human lymphocytes,
and human nasal epithelial cells, and inhibits the chloride conductance in
toad gallbladder, rat colon, and human nasal epithelium. Detergent-
solubilized protein eluted from an immunoaffinity column and then further
purified via FPLC yields a fraction (Mr 200,000-220,000) which has been
reconstituted into a planar lipid bilayer. There it behaves as a
chloride-selective channel (PCl/PNa = 20.2 in a 150/50 mM trans- bilayer
NaCl gradient) whose unit conductance is 62.4 +/- 4.6 pS, and which is
blocked in the bilayer by the antibody. The gating characteristics of this
channel indicate that it can exist as aggregates or as independent single
channels, and that the antibody interferes with gating of the aggregates,
leaving the unit channels unchanged. From these data we conclude that the
protein of Mr 219,000 recognized by this monoclonal antibody is an
important component of an epithelial chloride channel, and that this
channel is conserved across a wide range of animal species.