EFFECT OF FUROSEMIDE-INDUCED HYPOKALEMIC METABOLIC ALKALOSIS ON RENAL TRANSPORT ENZYMES

Hypokalemic metabolic alkalosis is one of the most common complications of chronic furosemide administration. In this study we examined acid-base composition and ATPase enzyme activities in medullary thick ascending limb of Henle's loop (MTAL) and collecting tubule (CCT and MCT) after seven days of chronic furosemide therapy. All of the studies were conducted in adrenal intact (AI) rats or in adrenalectomized (ADX) glucocorticoid replete rats replaced with a physiological dose of aldosterone (Aldo). Furosemide (F) was administered to each rat by mini-osmotic pump. In the Al + F group, plasma Aldo was high and obvious metabolic alkalosis occurred (HCO3- = 37 +/- 2 mEq/liter vs. 22 +/- 2 mEq/liter in controls, P < 0.005); activities of H-K-ATPase, H-ATPase, and Na-K-ATPase were increased approximately twofold in both CCT and MCT. In the ADX + F group (HCO3- = 28 +/- 2 mEq/liter, P < 0.05 from control), H-ATPase activity was normal in CCT and it was slightly increased in MCT. CCT and MCT H-K-ATPase activities were markedly increased (approximately twofold). Na-K-ATPase activity was the same as control in CCT but it was increased in MCT. In ADX + F + Vanadate (V) group which also had normal Aldo levels, acid-base changes were modest (20 +/- 2 mEq/liter, NS from control); in CCT and MCT H-K-ATPase and Na-K-ATPase activities were markedly reduced, but H-ATPase activity in MCT was increased. In all three experimental groups Na-K-ATPase activity in MTAL was reduced fivefold. Hypokalemia developed in both intact and ADX animals receiving furosemide. Thus, metabolic alkalosis in chronic furosemide therapy is associated with stimulation of all three collecting tubule ATPases. The high aldosterone level likely stimulates the H-ATPase in both CCT and MCT; and in the former it also stimulates Na-K-ATPase activity. The hypokalemia probably activates H-K-ATPase in both CCT and MCT. Furosemide also appears to directly stimulate H-ATPase activity in the MCT.