title: Role of topology in bioenergetics of sodium transport in complex epithelia.
abstract: There has been some controversy as to whether in sodium-transporting epithelia (e.g., frog skin, toad urinary bladder) the Na-O2 ratio is independent of the net rate of transepithelial sodium transport or remains constant over a wide range of transport rates. This computer simulation study shows that both views are defensible, depending on whether one wishes to exclude or include "static head" energy in the calculations. This energy arises from intramembrane sodium recirculation, as shown here when applying a multicompartment epithelial membrane model. Assuming reasonable kinetic parameters of a transport model whose sodium transport rate is varied over a wide range by a step-by-step simulated amiloride action, the computations have shown the following. When static head energy (O2 consumption) is excluded from the calculations, the Na-O2 ratio is constant over a wide range of transepithelial sodium flux, up to the tested value of 20 neq X cm-2 X min-1, a "normal" value found in frog skin. The Na-O2 ratios were 19.4 and 28.7 in low- and high-sodium models, respectively. If the static head energy is included in the calculations, the Na-O2 ratios increase with increasing transport rate from zero values to values up to 15.7. These data are in good agreement with laboratory results, as are derived data on phenomenological coefficients and thermodynamic coupling coefficients (LNa = 80, 128; LNa,r = 4.4; Lr = 0.27, 0.58; q = 0.50, 0.90, depending on the chosen model parameters).
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001001:Anura; D001692:Biological Transport; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D004848:Epithelium / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D012867:Skin / Q000378:metabolism*; D012964:Sodium / Q000378:metabolism*; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D001743:Urinary Bladder / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D012964:Sodium