Ϫ -rich fluid in response to stimulation by the adenylyl cyclase-coupled hormone secretin. The Cl Ϫ -rich secretion of pancreatic acinar cells is modified as it flows along the pancreatic ductal system, ultimately producing pancreatic juice with final concentrations of ϳ140 mM HCO 3 Ϫ and ϳ20 mM Cl Ϫ (31). In the guinea pig pancreatic duct, the uptake of bicarbonate across the basolateral membrane is mediated by Na ϩ -HCO 3 Ϫ cotransport (NBC1) and by Na ϩ /H ϩ exchange (19). HCO 3 Ϫ efflux across the apical membrane has been proposed to be mediated by CFTR, in concert with apical Cl Ϫ /HCO 3 Ϫ exchanger activity (9). Proximal pancreatic duct HCO 3 Ϫ secretion by apical Cl Ϫ / HCO 3 Ϫ exchange is favored by the high luminal Cl Ϫ concentrations resulting from pancreatic acinar Cl Ϫ secretion. However, since this proximal fluid flows distally toward the ampullary terminus of the duct, its Cl Ϫ concentration progressively decreases in parallel with a gradual increase in its HCO 3 Ϫ concentration. These inverse changes in Cl Ϫ and HCO 3 Ϫ concentrations are predicted to alter relative contributions of apical membrane Cl Ϫ /HCO 3 Ϫ exchange and CFTR-mediated HCO 3 Ϫ conductance and have been suggested to reflect axial variation in expression and regulation of these transport activities (18). The Cl Ϫ /HCO 3 Ϫ exchangers Slc26a3 and Slc26a6 have been detected in mouse pancreatic duct and in the human pancreatic cell line CFPAC-1 (10, 22), leading to the proposal that Cl Ϫ -dependent HCO 3 Ϫ secretion by pancreatic proximal ducts represents combined activities of Slc26a6 and Slc26a3 anion exchangers, positively regulated by activated CFTR, with reciprocal positive regulation of CFTR by the anion exchangers (4, 5, 22, 23). However, a study in native mouse pancreatic duct suggests negative regulation of CFTR by Slc26a6 (43).Secretin-stimulated HCO 3 Ϫ secretion in guinea pig pancreatic duct is not dependent on elevated luminal [Cl Ϫ ] (21) (brackets denote concentration) and occurs even in the presence of luminal fluid containing 125 mM HCO 3 Ϫ and 23 mM Cl Ϫ (17). As luminal [Cl Ϫ ] falls to or below this level (with corresponding elevation of [HCO 3 Ϫ ]), CFTR Cl Ϫ permeability may fall while that for HCO 3 Ϫ may rise (34). Measurements of membrane potential (V m ) and intracellular pH (pH i ) in luminally perfused interlobular ducts from guinea pig pancreas suggest that CFTR HCO 3 Ϫ conductance can account for observed levels of stimulated bicarbonate secretion (15,18,20). A computational model of pancreatic duct HCO 3 Ϫ secretion predicted for similar conditions that ϳ94% of HCO 3 Ϫ efflux across the apical membrane was mediated by HCO 3 Ϫ conductance (36), although the model did not consider contributions from electrogenic Cl Ϫ /HCO 3 Ϫ exchange. Thus the HCO 3 Ϫ conductance of CFTR could provide the main route for apical HCO 3 Ϫ secretion in distal pancreatic ducts from species in which, like human and guinea pig, pancreatic juice contains high concentrations of HCO 3 Ϫ (ϳ140 mM). Studies of the role of SLC26-media...