Mouse organic cation transporter 1 determines properties and regulation of basolateral organic cation transport in renal proximal tubules

The proximal tubule of mouse kidney expresses mouse organic cation transporter 1 (mOCT1), mOCT2, and much less mOCT3. Therefore, mOCT-mediated transport across the basolateral membrane of proximal tubules reflects properties of at least mOCT1 and mOCT2. Here, we unraveled substrate affinities and modulation of transport activity by acute regulation by protein kinases on mOCT1 and mOCT2 separately and compared these findings with those from isolated proximal tubules of male and female mOCT2−/− mice. These data are also compared to our recent reports on isolated tubules from wild-type and mOCT1/2 double knockout (mOCT1/2−/−) mice. OCT-mediated transport in proximal tubules of mOCT2−/− mice was only 20 % lower compared to those isolated from wild-type mice. While mOCT1 was regulated by all five pathways examined [protein kinase A (PKA), protein kinase C (PKC), p56lck, phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), and calmodulin (CaM)], mOCT2 activity was modulated by PKA, p56lck, and CaM only, however, in the same direction. As mOCT-mediated transport across the basolateral membrane of mOCT2−/− mice expressing only mOCT1 and to a small amount mOCT3 was identical to that observed for tubules isolated from wild-type mice and to that observed for human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK293) cells stably expressing mOCT1, mOCT1 represents the relevant paralog for OCT-dependent organic cation transport in the mouse kidney. Gender does not play a major role in expression and activity of renal OCT-mediated transport in the mouse. Properties of mouse OCT considerably differ from those of rat or human origin, and thus, observations made in these rodents cannot directly be transferred to the human situation.