(AQP4) water channels exist as heterotetramers of M1 and M23 splice variants and appear to be present in orthogonal arrays of intramembraneous particles (OAPs) visualized by freeze-fracture microscopy. We report that AQP4 forms OAPs in rat gastric parietal cells but not in parietal cells from the mouse or kangaroo rat. Furthermore, the organization of principal cell OAPs in Brattleboro rat kidney is perturbed by vasopressin (arginine vasopressin). Membranes of LLC-PK1 cells expressing M23-AQP4 showed large, abundant OAPs, but none were detectable in cells expressing M1-AQP4. Measurements of osmotic swelling of transfected LLC-PK1 cells using videomicroscopy, gave osmotic water permeability coefficient (Pf) values (in cm/s) of 0.018 (M1-AQP4), 0.019 (M23-AQP4), and 0.003 (control). Quantitative immunoblot and immunofluorescence showed an eightfold greater expression of M1-over M23-AQP4 in the cell lines, suggesting that single-channel pf (cm 3 /s) is much greater for the M23 variant. Somatic fusion of M1-and M23-AQP4 cells (Pf ϭ 0.028 cm/s) yielded OAPs that were fewer and smaller than in M23 cells alone, and M1-to-M23 expression ratios (ϳ1:4) normalized to AQP4 in M1 or M23 cells indicated a reduced single-channel pf for the M23 variant. Expression of an M23-AQP4-Ser 111E mutant produced ϳ1.5-fold greater single-channel pf and OAPs that were up to 2.5-fold larger than wild-type M23-AQP4 OAPs, suggesting that a putative PKA phosphorylation site Ser 111 is involved in OAP formation. We conclude that the higher-order organization of AQP4 in OAPs increases single-channel osmotic water permeability by one order of magnitude and that differential cellular expression levels of the two isoforms could regulate this organization. water transport; freeze-fracture; LLC-PK1 cells; orthogonal arrays; intramembraneous particles THE MAMMALIAN FAMILY OF AQUAPORIN water channels consists of 12 known members, each with a specific tissue distribution and membrane localization pattern. However, the role of aquaporin-4 (AQP4) in water transport physiology is not well understood. AQP4 was the first aquaporin to be observed and identified in biological membranes, because when examined by freeze-fracture electron microscopy, it forms characteristic arrays of intramembraneous particles (IMPs) in the form of checkerboard aggregates or orthogonal arrays of intramembraneous particles (OAPs). These OAPs were described in various cell membranes long before a role in water permeability was suspected (3,18,27,31,32). The relationship of OAPs to water channels was first suggested by earlier studies showing that membranes that contained OAPs, including astrocytes, gastric parietal cells, and collecting duct principal cells were immunostained by an antibody raised against the whole AQP1 (then called CHIP28) protein (37). A different antibody raised against skeletal muscle OAP-containing membranes also recognized an ϳ30-kDa protein in these membranes (15,41). In this way, a protein initially called basolateral intrinsic membrane protein (BLIP) was ...