Effects of Increased Uric Acid Intake on the Abundance of Urate-anion exchanger and Organic Anion Transporter Proteins in the Rat Kidney

Renal handling of uric acid mainly occurs in the proximal tubule, and bidirectional transport of urate may involve apical absorption via the urate-anion exchanger (URAT1) and basolateral uptake via organic anion transporters (OAT1 and OAT3). In rat kidneys, we investigated whether the protein abundance of URAT1, OAT1, and OAT3 is affected by the increase in uric acid intake. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into control and uric acid-supplemented groups, and uric acid-supplemented rats were given 0.75 g of uric acid per 180 g body weight per day for 8 days. After the animal experiment, kidneys were harvested and semi-quantitative immunoblotting was carried out from cortical homogenates using polyclonal peptide-derived antibodies to URAT1, OAT1, and OAT3. Serum uric acid level showed an increasing tendency in the uric acid-supplemented rats compared with control rats, whereas urinary uric acid excretion was not significantly different between the uric acid-supplemented rats and control rats. URAT1 protein abundance in cortical homogenates was not significantly different between the uric acid-supplemented rats and control rats. However, OAT1 protein abundance was significantly increased in the uric acid-supplemented rats compared with the control rats. OAT3 protein abundance was not significantly different between the uric acid-supplemented rats and control rats. In conclusion, OAT1 may have a regulatory role in response to the increase in uric acid intake in the rat kidney. The up-regulation of OAT1 would exert stimulation of urinary uric acid excretion and might contribute to protection from hyperuricemia.