Cultured human sweat gland epithelia: isolation of glands using neutral red.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D J Brayden.
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1. Rabbit small intestinal segments containing Peyer's patches (PP) were examined in Ussing chambers using short-circuit current (Isc) recording. By comparison with control small intestinal mucosal segments, rabbit PP-containing epithelia exhibited decreased basal Isc, increased transepithelial resistance (TER) and unchanged potential difference (PD). 2. Carbachol caused a decrease in Isc in rabbit PP epithelia. Forskolin, dibutyryl cyclic GMP, histamine and the calcium ionophore, A23187, were without effect. In contrast, control epithelial segments of rabbit intestine responded to carbachol and forskolin with an increased Isc, indicative of electrogenic chloride secretion. The EC50 for carbachol was approximately 2 microM in both types of epithelia. Methacholine also caused an outward current in rabbit PP epithelia which had similar properties to that of carbachol. The effect of the cholinomimetics on rabbit PP was basolateral-sided, reversible, and sensitive to low concentrations of the general muscarinic cholinoceptor blockers, atropine, scopolamine and also to the M1 cholinoceptor blocker, pirenzepine. 3. The Isc response to cholinomimetics in rabbit PP was insensitive to bumetanide, amiloride, TEA, barium, acetazolamide, piroxicam and omeprazole, but was attenuated in the presence of ouabain. Using bilaterally-substituted solutions, the carbachol effect on rabbit PP Isc was abolished in chloride/bicarbonate-free, but not in chloride-free solutions, suggestive of stimulation of electrogenic bicarbonate absorption by the agent. Substitution for sodium abolished both the basal current and the Isc response to carbachol. Part of the effect of carbachol on PP Isc appeared to be mediated by submucosal neurones because addition of tetrodotoxin reduced the effect by 60%. 4 As microfold (M) epithelial cells predominate in the PP of the rabbit, the unusual phenotype of cholinomimetic-induced outward current may be used as an electrophysiological marker for these potential sites of oral vaccine delivery, and in particular it may also be of use as a marker for rabbit M cells.
Basolateral but not apical application of 10-200 microM 4,4'-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid (DIDS) or 4-acetamido-4'-isothiocyanostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid (SITS) to T84 monolayers produced a transient increase in short-circuit current (Isc), followed by a sustained inhibition. 4,4'-Dinitrostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid (DNDS) had no effect. The increase in Isc produced by DIDS represents Cl- secretion and appears to result from Ca2+ elevation, because in all respects except time course the response to DIDS mimicked the response to the Ca(2+)-elevating agent thapsigargin. Fura-2 measurements established that thapsigargin elevates Ca2+ in T84 cells, but Ca2+ responses to DIDS could not be established directly because DIDS absorbs strongly at the critical wavelengths. Responses to DIDS and thapsigargin were 1) blocked by bumetanide; 2) not blocked by basolateral Ba2+; 3) completely nonadditive; 4) strongly synergistic with basal levels of Isc or with Isc increases produced by elevating adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP; with forskolin) or guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (with heat-stable enterotoxin); and 5) reversibly abolished by removal of basolateral Ca2+. Interactions between Ca2+ and cAMP-elevating agents strongly support a model of Cl- secretion in which apical Cl- conductance is activated by cyclic nucleotides but not by Ca2+ while basolateral K+ channels are activated by Ca2+. In contrast with this mechanism, whole cell patch-clamp recordings of nonconfluent T84 cells indicated that DIDS and other Ca(2+)-elevating agents stimulated an increase in Cl- conductance. Thus increases in cytosolic free Ca2+ in nonconfluent T84 cells activate conductances that differ from those in confluent monolayers.
Cultured monolayers of human sweat-gland epithelia have been used to measure electrogenic sodium transport, as short-circuit current, and intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca]i) from Fura-2 fluorescence. The sodium currents in response to the agonists lysylbradykinin, histamine and carbachol show oscillatory behaviour in the 1-2 per minute frequency range. The oscillations can be terminated either by using specific antagonists or with amiloride, which prevents sodium entry into the epithelium. Oscillatory behaviour is also seen when [Ca]i is measured and occurs in the same frequency range. Sodium transport in these cultured epithelia is thought to result from an increase in [Ca]i, which in turn activates calcium-sensitive potassium channels, so increasing the electrochemical gradient for sodium entry. The oscillatory behaviour implies that the epithelial cells behave in synchrony to increase [Ca]i, so inducing synchronous changes in sodium current. It is shown that the behaviour is not unique to sodium-absorbing epithelia, and the possible utility of synchronous behaviour in epithelial tissues is discussed.
The human genetic disease cystic fibrosis is caused by a single defective gene on chromosome 7 that codes for a 1480 amino acid protein called the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). The defect causes a profound reduction of Cl- permeability in several tissues, which in turn impairs salt absorption and fluid secretion. A 25-80 pS, rectifying Cl- channel has been targeted as the exclusive or primary channel affected in CF. However, we have found no evidence for significant activation or spontaneous activity of this channel in cell-attached patches of normal lymphoblasts or dog tracheal cells. However, in dog tracheal cells, we find lower conductance, linear Cl- channels that are spontaneously active in unstimulated cells and may show increased activity in stimulated cells. Attempts to correlate the expression of mRNA for the CFTR protein in various types of cells with the presence of the rectifying Cl- channel show a lack of correlation: i.e., depolarization-activated rectifying Cl- channesl have been found in excised, inside-out patches from all cell types that we have examined to date, but the CFTR mRNA has so far only been detected in a subset of epithelial cells.
1. Cultured epithelia derived from whole human sweat glands, isolated secretory coils, isolated reabsorptive ducts and whole glands from cystic fibrosis (CF) subjects have been used to examine drug sensitivity by use of short circuit current recording. 2. Short circuit current increases were observed with lysylbradykinin, carbachol and histamine in epithelia of different origins. All responses were due to stimulation of electrogenic sodium absorption, evidenced by the inhibition of these responses by amiloride. The latter also abolished the basal current. The terpenes, thapsigargin and forskolin had no effect on transport. 3. The stimulation of a sodium current by agonists was dependent upon calcium, responses being inhibited by lanthanum ions and EGTA. Further A23187 induced a sodium current. 4. Pronounced oscillations in the sodium currents were a feature of the responses, implying synchronous, regulated cell activity. 5. Forskolin produced a ten fold increase in adenylate cyclase activity. All agonists listed in 2 except forskolin caused an increase in intracellular calcium [Ca]i, [Ca]i responses in CF cells were not different from those of normal cells, except with thapsigargin where the responses were smaller. 6. It is concluded that in culture, cells develop ductal characteristics, whether derived from normal or CF glands, coils or ducts. An increase in [Ca]i followed by activation of calcium-sensitive potassium channels and apical membrane hyperpolarization may be the major mechanism for increasing sodium influx.
1. Using cultured epithelia from sweat glands, derived from both cystic fibrosis and normal subjects, the relationship between amiloride concentration and the inhibition of electrogenic sodium transport was measured, under short circuit conditions. 2. The Kd for amiloride in cultures from normal subjects was 0.64 microM (n = 6) while in cultures derived from CF patients the value was 1.07 microM (n = 4). The values were significantly different (P less than 0.02, ANOVA). 3. In cultures from normal sweat glands, bathed in solutions free of permeable anions (chloride/bicarbonate), the Kd for amiloride rose to a value greater than found in CF tissues (2.3 microM). In CF epithelia subject to the same conditions the abnormally high value increased further, so that in solutions without permeable anions normal and CF cultures behaved similarly. 4. In cultures derived from normal and CF tissues lowering the sodium concentration to 10 mM also lowered the Kd for amiloride, however the shift was greater for CF cultures. 5. Several possible explanations for the results are discussed. The most probable is that the relatively more positive apical membrane potential in CF epithelia opposes the interaction of amiloride with the sodium channel, implying that complex formation is potential sensitive.
A new method is described to produce epithelial sheets by direct explantation of human sweat glands onto matrigel-coated millipore filters. The method is applicable to whole glands, separated coils or ducts and to normal and CF tissues. Electrogenic transport studies show that epithelia develop sodium transporting capability, even when explants are derived from secretory coils.
1. Thapsigargin, a sesquiterpene lactone, was shown to cause electrogenic anion secretion in monolayers of human colonic epithelial cells, an effect which was crucially dependent upon calcium and did not involve eicosanoid formation. 2. To measure the secretory effect calcium needed to be present in the external bathing solution. By means of Fura-2 fluorescence measurements thapsigargin was shown to raise Cai by around 250 nM when the bathing solution contained calcium. In the nominal absence of external calcium thapsigargin raised Cai by only 60 nM, but from a lower basal value. This was insufficient to cause secretion. 3. Effects of other calcium-dependent secretagogues (e.g. lysylbradykinin) were inhibited in the presence of thapsigargin, whereas kinin responses were potentiated if the peptide was added following a stimulus which increases cyclic AMP. 4. From the data given here and the known behaviour of colonic epithelia it is concluded that thapsigargin increases Cai by a non-ionophoric mechanism by release from internal stores. Calcium-stimulated calcium influx then follows resulting in the opening of basolateral K channels, increasing the electrochemical gradient for chloride efflux, or alternatively by activating anion channels in the apical membrane. It is concluded that thapsigargin is a potentially important tool for examining epithelial mechanisms.
1. Isolated human eccrine sweat glands were cultured in vitro. Cells were harvested and plated onto permeable supports to form confluent cell sheets, area 0.2 cm2. These were used to study the electrogenic transepithelial transport of ions by measurement of short-circuit current (SCC). Epithelial sheets had a basal SCC of 5.89 +/- 0.62 microA cm-2 (n = 33) and a transepithelial resistance of 74.1 +/- 5.6 omega cm2 (n = 33). The transepithelial potential difference varied between -0.2 and -1.8 mV with a mean value of -0.71 +/- 0.09 mV (n = 33). 2. The basal current was abolished by addition of 10 microM-amiloride to the apical bathing solution. The concentration of amiloride which inhibited basal SCC by 50% (EC50) was 0.4 microM. Cultures prepared from the secretory coil of sweat glands, rather than from whole glands, were similarly sensitive to amiloride (EC50 = 0.8 microM). 3. Lysylbradykinin (LBK), carbachol, isoprenaline, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and A23187 all increased SCC in cultures from whole glands. LBK responses were obtained with basolateral and not with apical application. Furthermore LBK actions were not substantially altered by cyclo-oxygenase inhibition but showed marked desensitization upon repeated application. Sheet cultures prepared from sweat gland coils also showed SCC responses to both carbachol and LBK. Forskolin, an activator of adenylate cyclase, did not alter SCC in either type of preparation. 4. Replacement of chloride and of chloride and bicarbonate in the bathing solution did not cause attenuation of the responses to LBK or carbachol in whole-gland sheet cultures. Furthermore responses were unaffected by piretanide or acetazolamide. These results were taken to indicate that anion secretion was not the basis for the SCC responses. 5. Responses to LBK and carbachol were significantly reduced by amiloride (10 microM), this effect being reversible. No responses to LBK or carbachol were seen when N-methyl-D-glucamine (NMDG) was used to replace sodium, whereas reintroduction of sodium ions restored responsiveness to these agents. 6. The SCC responses to the muscarinic agonist carbachol and to LBK appear to be due to stimulation of amiloride-sensitive, electrogenic sodium absorption in whole-gland sheet cultures. Further it would appear that, in culture, the pleuripotential capacity of the cells is revealed since both whole-gland and secretory coil cultures exhibit some properties usually associated in vivo with duct cells. Many mammalian epithelia show electrogenic chloride secretion both in response to carbachol and LBK but also in response to activation of adenylate cyclase with forskolin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)