Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) Confers Glibenclamide Sensitivity to Outwardly Rectifying Chloride Channel (ORCC) in Hi-5 Insect Cells

Increasing evidence is now accumulating for the involvement of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) in the control of the outwardly rectifying chloride channel (ORCC). We have examined the sensitivity of ORCC to the sulfonylurea drug glibenclamide in Hi-5 (Trichoplusia ni) insect cells infected with recombinant baculovirus expressing either wild-type CFTR, ΔF508-CFTR or E. coliβ galactosidase cDNA and in control cells either infected with virus alone or uninfected. Iodide efflux and single channel patch-clamp experiments confirmed that forskolin and 1-methyl-3-isobutyl xanthine (IBMX) or 7-methyl-1,3 dipropyl xanthine (DPMX) activate CFTR channels (unitary conductance: 9.1 ± 1.6 pS) only in cells expressing CFTR. In contrast, we identified 4-acetamido-4′-isothiocyanatostilbene-2,2′-disulfonic acid (SITS)-sensitive ORCC in excised membrane patches in any of the cells studied, with similar conductance (22 ± 2.5 pS at −80 mV; 55 ± 4.1 pS at +80 mV) and properties. In the presence of 500 μm SITS, channel open probability (Po) of ORCC was reversibly reduced to 0.05 ± 0.01 in CFTR-cells, to 0.07 ± 0.02 in non-CFTR expressing cells and to 0.05 ± 0.02 in ΔF508-cells. In Hi-5 cells that did not express CFTR, glibenclamide failed to inhibit ORCC activity even at high concentrations (100 μm), whereas 500 μm SITS reversibly inhibited ORCC. In contrast in cells expressing CFTR or ΔF508, glibenclamide dose dependently (IC50= 17 μm, Hill coefficient 1.2) and reversibly inhibited ORCC. Cytoplasmic application of 100 μm glibenclamide reversibly reduced Po from 0.88 ± 0.03 to 0.09 ± 0.02 (wash: Po= 0.85 ± 0.1) in CFTR cells and from 0.89 ± 0.05 to 0.08 ± 0.05 (wash: Po= 0.87 ± 0.1) in ΔF508 cells. In non-CFTR expressing cells, glibenclamide (100 μm) was without effect on Po (control: Po= 0.89 ± 0.09, glib.: Po= 0.86 ± 0.02; wash: Po= 0.87 ± 0.05). These data strongly suggest that the expression of CFTR confers glibenclamide sensitivity to the ORCC in Hi-5 cells.