Effects of Dopamine on Intracellular pH in Opossum Kidney Cells

$Na^+/H^+$ exchanger (NHE) has a critical role in regulation of intracellular pH (pHi) in the renal proximal tubular cells. It has recently been shown that dopamine inhibits NHE in the renal proximal tubules. Nevertheless, there is a dearth of information on the effects of long-term (chronic) dopamine treatment on NHE activities. This study was performed to elucidate the pHi regulatory mechanisms during the chronic dopamine treatments in renal proximal tubular OK cells. The resting pHi was greatly decreased by chronic dopamine treatments. The initial rate and the amplitude of intracellular acidification by isosmotical $Na^+$ removal from the bath medium in chronically dopamine-treated cells were much smaller than those in control. Although it seemed to be attenuated in $Na^+$-dependent pH regulation system, $Na^+$-dependent pHi recovery by NHE after intracelluar acid loading in the dopamine-treated groups was not significantly different from the control. The result is interpreted to be due to the balance between the stimulation effects of lower pHi on the NHE activity and counterbalance by dopamine. Our data strongly suggested that chronic dopamine treatment increased intrinsic intracellular buffer capacity, since higher buffer capacity was induced by lower resting pHi and this effect could attenuate pHi changes under extracellular $Na^+$-free conditions in chronically dopamine-treated cells. Our study also demonstrated that intracellular acidification induced by chronic dopamine treatments was not mediated by changes in NHE activity.