title: Urea-selective concentrating defect in transgenic mice lacking urea transporter UT-B.
abstract: Urea transporter UT-B has been proposed to be the major urea transporter in erythrocytes and kidney-descending vasa recta. The mouse UT-B cDNA was isolated and encodes a 384-amino acid urea-transporting glycoprotein expressed in kidney, spleen, brain, ureter, and urinary bladder. The mouse UT-B gene was analyzed, and UT-B knockout mice were generated by targeted gene deletion of exons 3-6. The survival and growth of UT-B knockout mice were not different from wild-type littermates. Urea permeability was 45-fold lower in erythrocytes from knockout mice than from those in wild-type mice. Daily urine output was 1.5-fold greater in UT-B- deficient mice (p < 0.01), and urine osmolality (U(osm)) was lower (1532 +/- 71 versus 2056 +/- 83 mosM/kg H(2)O, mean +/- S.E., p < 0.001). After 24 h of water deprivation, U(osm) (in mosM/kg H(2)O) was 2403 +/- 38 in UT-B null mice and 3438 +/- 98 in wild-type mice (p < 0.001). Plasma urea concentration (P(urea)) was 30% higher, and urine urea concentration (U(urea)) was 35% lower in knockout mice than in wild-type mice, resulting in a much lower U(urea)/P(urea) ratio (61 +/- 5 versus 124 +/- 9, p < 0.001). Thus, the capacity to concentrate urea in the urine is more severely impaired than the capacity to concentrate other solutes. Together with data showing a disproportionate reduction in the concentration of urea compared with salt in homogenized renal inner medullas of UT-B null mice, these data define a novel "urea-selective" urinary concentrating defect in UT-B null mice. The UT-B null mice generated for these studies should also be useful in establishing the role of facilitated urea transport in extrarenal organs expressing UT-B.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143-0521, USA. byang@itsa.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Baoxue
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Lise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bankir
authors.forename: Annemarie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gillespie
authors.forename: Charles J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Epstein
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Verkman
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D005091:Exons; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007671:Kidney Concentrating Ability; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008954:Models, Biological; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010641:Phenotype; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013997:Time Factors; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014508:Urea / Q000378:metabolism*; D000096982:Urea Transporters
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D014508:Urea; D000096982:Urea Transporters; C452857:urea transporter B, mouse