Os experimentos indicam, como já demonstrado em estudos prévios do laboratório, que angiotensina II (Ang II) apresenta efeito estimulatório sobre a cinética de recuperação de pHi em células OKP. Tal estímulo não é acentuado pela super-expressão de AT1aR recombinante, ao contrário do que imaginávamos inicialmente. Acreditamos que, por conta da capacidade de amplificação de sinal característica dos receptores acoplados a proteína G, um aumento de expressão do receptor AT1aR em relação ao nível endógeno seja redundante para o fenômeno biológico estudado. Por outro lado, os resultados para o grupo com super-expressão de ATRAP corroboram nossa hipótese inicial, ao indicar uma atenuação do efeito de Ang II sobre a recuperação de pHi, em comparação aos demais grupos experimentais tratados com Ang II. Considerando que a recuperação de pHi em células OKP reflete essencialmente a atividade de troca Na+/H+ mediada pelo contra-transportador NHE3, podemos concluir que a regulação positiva de NHE3 via AT1aR/AngII é prejudicada pelo aumento de expressão da proteína ATRAP. / The experimental data suggests that, as shown in previous works from our laboratory, angiotensin II (Ang II) raises the pHi recovery rate in OKP cells. This upregulation is not enhanced by recombinant AT1aR overexpression, contrary to our initial hypothesis. We believe that, due to signal amplification mediated by G-protein coupled receptors, any increase in AT1aR would be redundant considering the biological phenomenon of interest. On the other hand, results from the ATRAP overexpression group supports our initial hypothesis, pointing an attenuated effect of Ang II over pHi recovery in relation to the remaining groups treated with Ang II. Considering that pHi recovery in OKP cells primarily reflects the Na+/H+ exchange activity mediated by NHE3 antiporter, we can conclude that NHE3 upregulation mediated by AT1aR/AngII is impaired by an increase in ATRAP protein expression.

The last half-century has seen a dramatic and alarming rise in the incidence of autoimmune disease in industrialized nations too rapid to be accounted for by genetics alone. Among those, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) has risen from a western disease affecting industrialized populations to an emerging global threat affecting diverse populations around the world. IBD is a complex disease that combines genetic susceptibility and environmental exposure, but one aspect appears to be clear: the involvement of the gut microbiome. Current thought holds that IBD is an autoimmune attack on commensal microbiota, causing extensive collateral damage to the host intestinal tissues in the process. However, it has remained unclear in the field whether the changes observed in the IBD microbiome are causative in nature or whether the microbiome is responding to already-underway inflammatory processes within the host. This dissertation investigates one host factor in particular with regard to the microbiome and the development of inflammation: sodium-hydrogen exchange at the brush border, mediated by sodium hydrogen exchanger 3 (NHE3). NHE3 is inhibited during active IBD, but its loss in knockout animals is also enough to promote spontaneous colitis in a microbiome-dependent fashion. This dissertation investigates the specific contribution of the microbiome in NHE3 knockout animals to determine whether loss of NHE3 may be mediating the onset of colitis through pro-inflammatory changes in the microbiome. Our results suggest that the microbiome fostered in an NHE3-deficient environment may accelerate the onset and severity of experimental colitis, though likely in concert with additional host factors.

AABBSSTTRRAACCTT The molecular circadian clock enables anticipation of environmental changes. In mammals, clocks are ubiquitously present in almost all tissues and they are comprised of transcriptional-translational feedback loops of the so-called clock genes. The central clock represents the intrinsic pacemaker which is located in suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of hypothalamus and synchronizes peripheral clocks. Clockwork system in alimentary tract and its regulatory link to intestinal functions are poorly understood. Therefore the objective of the thesis was to characterize molecular clock in particular parts of the rat intestine and to elucidate its link to the intestinal transport, regulation of cell cycle and neoplastic transformation in colonic tissue. We used quantitative RT-PCR (qPCR) to determine circadian profiles of mRNA expression of clock genes in the epithelium of duodenum, jejunum, ileum, and colon of rat. Furthermore, we analysed the expression of genes coding sodium chloride transporters and channels as well as cell cycle regulators in colon. To focus more precisely on different structures of intestinal epithelia we used laser capture microdissection. In addition, we performed Ussing chamber measurements to determine the colonic electrogenic transport. To study the contribution of circadian...

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