GPR39 activation inhibits AQP2 trafficking and alters cytoskeletal organization
G protein-coupled receptor 39 (GPR39) is an orphan receptor that is highly expressed in renal collecting duct principal cells. GPR39 activation in vivo leads to reduced urinary concentration capacity. In this study, we utilized mpkCCD cells, a model of principal cells in the collecting duct, to examine the cell biological effects of GPR39 activation. Pharmacological activation of GPR39 with the synthetic agonist cpd1324 impaired vasopressin-mediated aquaporin-2 (AQP2) apical trafficking and reduced total AQP2 expression following long-term treatment, consistent with its known in vivo role. These effects were absent in GPR39 knockout cells. In addition, GPR39 activation altered apical membrane morphology, disrupted the tight junction network, and reduced cortical F-actin expression, suggesting a shift toward a dedifferentiated phenotype. GPR39 activation also increased glycolytic ATP production while reducing mitochondrial ATP output without affecting proliferation. RNA-seq analysis of acutely treated mpkCCD cells revealed upregulation of inflammatory and dedifferentiation-associated gene programs, including cytokines. These findings indicate that the role of GPR39 in principal cells goes beyond AQP2 regulation and imply that GPR39 functions as a negative regulator of epithelial differentiation, perhaps acting to coordinate metabolic and inflammatory responses to stress. Overall design: Without transformation (WT) and Gpr39 knockout (KO) mpkCCD cells were seeded onto 12-well transwell inserts and cultured in complete media without dDAVP for 9 days to allow for full polarization. Cells were then switched to simple media for 24 hours prior to treatment. Cells were treated with either 1 µM cpd1324 + 10 µM ZnCl2 or vehicle control (0.1% DMSO + 10 µM ZnCl2) for 2 hours. Following treatment, total RNA was extracted using the RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen, Cat# 74104) according to the manufacturer's instructions.