The actin cytoskeleton of rabbit proximal tubules was assessed by deoxyribonuclease (DNase) binding, sedimentability of detergent-insoluble actin, laser-scanning confocal microscopy, and ultrastructure during exposure to hypoxia, antimycin, or antimycin plus ionomycin. One-third of total actin was DNase reactive in control cells prior to deliberate depolymerization, and a similar proportion was unsedimentable from detergent lysates during 2.5 h at 100,000 g. Tubules injured by hypoxia or antimycin alone, without glycine, showed Ca(2+)-dependent pathology of the cytoskeleton, consisting of increases in DNase-reactive actin, redistribution of pelletable actin, and loss of microvilli concurrent with lethal membrane damage. In contrast, tubules similarly depleted of ATP and incubated with glycine showed no significant changes of DNase-reactive actin or actin sedimentability for up to 60 min, but, nevertheless, developed substantial loss of basal membrane-associated actin within 15 min and disruption of actin cores and clubbing of microvilli at durations > 30 min. These structural changes that occurred in the presence of glycine were not prevented by limiting Ca2+ availability or pH 6.9. Very rapid and extensive cytoskeletal disruption followed antimycin-plus-ionomycin treatment. In this setting, glycine and pH 6.9 decreased lethal membrane damage but did not ameliorate pathology in the cytoskeleton or microvilli; limiting Ca2+ availability partially protected the cytoskeleton but did not prevent lethal membrane damage. The data suggest that both ATP depletion-dependent but Ca(2+)-independent, as well as Ca(2+)-mediated, processes can disrupt the actin cytoskeleton during acute proximal tubule cell injury; that both types of change occur, despite protection afforded by glycine and reduced pH against lethal membrane damage; and that Ca(2+)-independent processes primarily account for prelethal actin cytoskeletal alterations during simple ATP depletion of proximal tubule cells.

To better define the role of Ca2+ in pathophysiological alterations of the proximal tubule microvillus actin cytoskeleton, we studied freshly isolated tubules in which intracellular free Ca2+ was equilibrated with highly buffered, precisely defined medium Ca2+ levels using a combination of the metabolic inhibitor, antimycin, and the ionophore, ionomycin, in the presence of glycine, to prevent lethal membrane damage and resulting nonspecific changes. Increases of Ca2+ to > or = 10 microM were sufficient to initiate concurrent actin depolymerization, fragmentation of F-actin into forms requiring high-speed centrifugation for recovery, redistribution of villin to sedimentable fractions, and structural microvillar damage consisting of severe swelling and fragmentation of actin cores. These observations implicate Ca(2+)-dependent, villin-mediated actin cytoskeletal disruption in tubule cell microvillar damage under conditions conceivably present during pathophysiological states. However, despite prior evidence for cytosolic free Ca2+ increases of the same order of magnitude and similar structural microvillar alterations, Ca(2+)- and villin-mediated events did not appear to account for the initial microvillar damage that occurs during ATP depletion induced by antimycin alone or hypoxia.