发布: 2017年04月20日第7卷第8期 DOI: 10.21769/BioProtoc.2224 浏览次数: 9640
评审: Neelanjan BoseCheng-Hsun HoRia Sircar
Abstract
Mechanically-gated ion channels play key roles in mechanotransduction, a process that translates physical forces into biological signals. Epithelial and endothelial cells are exposed to laminar shear stress (LSS), a tangential force exerted by flowing fluids against the wall of vessels and epithelia. The protocol outlined herein has been used to examine the response of ion channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes to LSS (Hoger et al., 2002; Carattino et al., 2004; Shi et al., 2006). The Xenopus oocyte is a reliable system that allows for the expression and chemical modification of ion channels and regulatory proteins (George et al., 1989; Palmer et al., 1990; Sheng et al., 2001; Carattino et al., 2003). Therefore, this technique is suitable for studying the molecular mechanisms that allow flow-activated channels to respond to LSS.
Keywords: Flow (流量)Background
Epithelial cells that line the urinary tract and endothelial cells that line blood vessels are subjected to mechanical forces elicited by moving fluids. These forces are, laminar shear stress (LSS), a frictional force tangential to the wall of the tubular structures, and circumferential stretch, which is perpendicular to the direction of flow. Compelling evidence indicates that LSS is the main determinant for the physiological responses observed in response to flow changes in tubular structures of the kidney and blood vessels (Satlin et al., 2001; Liu et al., 2003; Weinbaum et al., 2010). In these settings, ion channels have an important role transmitting fluid shear stress into biological signals (Ranade et al., 2015). For instance, in the distal nephron of the kidney the rates of Na+ reabsorption and K+ secretion are positively modulated by luminal fluid flow. In this segment of the nephron, high tubular flow rates enhance the activity of the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) (Satlin et al., 2001 and 2006; Morimoto et al., 2006). In the face of high luminal flow rates, the apical entry of Na+ mediated by ENaC and its electrogenic basolateral extrusion create an electrochemical gradient that favors the passive diffusion of cellular K+ into the luminal fluid through maxi-K channels (Woda et al., 2001; Satlin et al., 2006). Likewise, in the vasculature, where fluid shear stress is essential for normal physiological responses, ion channels have been proposed as mechanosensors that mediate endothelial flow signaling (Davies, 1995; Hoger et al., 2002; Wang et al., 2009; Guo et al., 2016).
The technique described in this protocol has been used to examine basic aspects of the regulation of ENaC by LSS as well as to gain understanding of the molecular mechanisms that allow this channel to respond to fluid flow (Carattino et al., 2004; 2005 and 2007; Morimoto et al., 2006). With this technique, we were able to characterize basic features of the response of ENaC to LSS, such as time-course of activation, strain dependence, temperature dependence, and voltage dependence (Carattino et al., 2004 and 2007). In addition, using ENaC mutant subunits that assemble to form channels that are either constitutively open (βS518K) or that can be locked in an open state by chemical modification (αS580C), we showed that fluid flow increases ENaC activity by changing the open probability of the channel (Carattino et al., 2004). This finding was later confirmed using single channel analysis (Althaus et al., 2007). Moreover, by combining the technique described herein and site-directed mutagenesis we were able to identify key structural elements in ENaC required for a response to LSS (Carattino et al., 2004 and 2005; Abi-Antoun et al., 2011; Shi et al., 2011; 2012a; 2012b and 2013). Recently, we employed this technique to examine the regulation of MEC-4 and MEC-10 by LSS. These channel forming subunits are members of the ENaC/degenerin family expressed in C. elegans that are required for gentle touch in worms (Driscoll and Chalfie, 1991; Shi et al., 2016). Other investigators have employed the technique describe here to study the response of K+ channels expressed in the vasculature to LSS (Hoger et al., 2002; Fronius et al., 2010). In summary, the technique described in this protocol is suitable to examine the molecular mechanisms by which fluid flow regulates the function of epithelial and endothelial ion channels.
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© 2017 The Authors; exclusive licensee Bio-protocol LLC.
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分类
分子生物学 > 蛋白质 > 离子通道信号转导
细胞生物学 > 细胞分离和培养 > 细胞分离
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