Native small airways secrete bicarbonate.

Since the discovery of Cl− impermeability in cystic fibrosis (CF) and the cloning of the responsible channel, CF pathology has been widely attributed to a defect in epithelial Cl− transport. However, loss of bicarbonate (HCO3−) transport also plays a major, possibly more critical role in CF pathogenesis. Even though HCO3− transport is severely affected in the native pancreas, liver, and intestines in CF, we know very little about HCO3− secretion in small airways, the principle site of morbidity in CF. We used a novel, mini-Ussing chamber system to investigate the properties of HCO3− transport in native porcine small airways (∼ 1 mm φ). We assayed HCO3− transport across small airway epithelia as reflected by the transepithelial voltage, conductance, and equivalent short-circuit current with bilateral 25-mM HCO3− plus 125-mM NaGlu Ringer’s solution in the presence of luminal amiloride (10 μM). Under these conditions, because no major transportable anions other than HCO3− were present, we took the equivalent...