Three-dimensional, computer-tomographic analysis of membrane proteins (TrkA, caveolin, clathrin) in PC12 cells

Charming neighborhoods on the cell surface: plasma membrane microdomains regulate receptor tyrosine kinase signaling

Receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) are an important family of growth factor and hormone receptors that regulate many aspects of cellular physiology. Ligand binding by RTKs at the plasma membrane elicits activation of many signaling intermediates. The spatial and temporal regulation of RTK signaling within cells is an important determinant of receptor signaling outcome. In particular, the compartmentalization of the plasma membrane into a number of microdomains allows context-specific control of RTK signaling. Indeed various RTKs are recruited to and enriched within specific plasma membrane microdomains under various conditions, including lipid-ordered domains such as caveolae and lipid rafts, clathrin-coated structures, tetraspanin-enriched microdomains, and actin-dependent protrusive membrane microdomains such as dorsal ruffles and invadosomes. We examine the evidence for control of RTK signaling by each of these plasma membrane microdomains, as well as molecular mechanisms for how this spatial organization controls receptor signaling.

Role of stress-related brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the rat submandibular gland

The nerve growth factor (NGF) family comprises NGF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neurotrophins (NTs)-3, -4/5, -6 and -7, all of which are collectively referred to as neurotrophins. However, the expression of neurotrophins other than NGF in the salivary gland has not been described in detail. Through interaction with the TrkB receptor, BDNF plays an important role in long-term potentiation. We found that BDNF expression increased within submandibular gland tissue in response to stress, suggesting that the salivary glands are sensitive to stress. In addition, stress caused increases in plasma BDNF derived from the submandibular gland and in TrkB receptor mRNA in the adrenal medulla. Plasma BDNF might activate TrkB receptors in the adrenal medulla during acute stress. The salivary glands are likely to influence not only oral health, but also systemic organs. This review addressed the relationship between hormone-like effects and stress-related BDNF expression in the rat submandibular gland.

Expression and Role of the BDNF Receptor-TrkB in Rat Adrenal Gland under Acute Immobilization Stress

We reported that plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was maximally elevated following a 60-min period of acute immobilization stress and that salivary glands were the main source of plasma BDNF under this stress condition. However, the expression pattern of the BDNF receptor, Tyrosine receptor kinase B (TrkB), under this condition has yet to be determined. We therefore investigated the effect of this stress on the expression level of TrkB in various rat organs using real-time PCR. No significant differences were found between controls and 60 min-stressed rats with respect to TrkB level in various organs. Only adrenal glands showed significantly increased TrkB mRNA levels after 60 min of stress. TrkB mRNA and protein were observed to localize in chromaffin cells. In addition, we investigated whether BDNF-TrkB interaction influences the release of stress hormones from PC12 cells, derived from chromaffin cells. Truncated receptor, TrkB-T1, was identified in PC12 cells using RT-PCR. Exposure of PC12 cells to BDNF induced the release of catecholamine. This BDNF-evoked release was totally blocked by administration of the K252a in which an inhibitor of Trk receptors. Thus, BDNF-TrkB interactions may modulate catecholamine release from adrenal chromaffin cells under acute stress conditions.

Pathologic caveolin-1 regulation of PTEN in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive fibroproliferative disorder refractory to current pharmacological therapies. Fibroblasts isolated from IPF patients display pathological activation of PI3K/Akt caused by low PTEN phosphatase activity. This enables these cells to escape the negative proliferative properties of polymerized collagen. The mechanism underlying low PTEN activity in IPF fibroblasts is unclear, but our prior studies indicate that membrane-associated PTEN expression is decreased in these cells. Caveolin-1 is an integral membrane protein whose expression is decreased in IPF lung tissue, but how low caveolin-1 contributes to pathological fibrosis is incompletely understood. The objective of this study was to examine the hypothesis that caveolin-1 regulates PTEN function in IPF fibroblasts. Here we demonstrate that caveolin-1 expression is a determinant of membrane PTEN levels and show that PTEN interacts with caveolin-1 via its caveolin-1-binding sequence. We demonstrate that caveolin-1 expression is low in IPF fibroblasts and that this correlates with low membrane PTEN levels, whereas overexpression of caveolin-1 restores membrane PTEN levels, inhibits Akt phosphorylation, and suppresses proliferation. We demonstrate that caveolin-1 and PTEN expression are low in myofibroblasts within IPF fibroblastic foci. These data indicate that IPF fibroblasts display low caveolin-1 expression, which results in low membrane-associated PTEN expression. This creates a membrane microenvironment depleted of inhibitory phosphatase activity, facilitating the aberrant activation PI3K/Akt and pathological proliferation.

Mutual effects of caveolin and nerve growth factor signaling in pig oligodendrocytes

Signaling of growth factors may depend on the recruitment of their receptors to specialized microdomains. Previous reports on PC12 cells indicated an interaction of raft-organized caveolin and TrkA signaling. Because porcine oligodendrocytes (OLs) respond to nerve growth factor (NGF), we were interested to know whether caveolin also plays a role in oligodendroglial NGF/TrkA signaling. OLs expressed caveolin at the plasma membrane but also intracellularly. This was partially organized in the classically Omega-shaped invaginations, which may represent caveolae. We could show that caveolin and TrkA colocalize by using a discontinuous sucrose gradient (Song et al. [1996] J. Biol. Chem. 271:9690-9697), MACS technology, and immunoprecipitation. However, differential extraction of caveolin and TrkA with Triton X-100 at 4 degrees C indicated that caveolin and TrkA are probably not exclusively present in detergent-resistant, caveolin-containing rafts (CCRs). NGF treatment of OLs up-regulated the expression of caveolin-1 (cav-1) and stimulated tyrosine-14 phosphorylation of cav-1. Furthermore, OLs were transfected with cav-1-specific small interfering RNA (siRNA). A knockdown of cav-1 resulted in a reduced activation of downstream components of the NGF signaling cascade, such as p21Ras and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) after NGF exposure of OLs. Subsequently, increased oligodendroglial process formation via NGF was impaired. The present study indicates that CCRs/caveolin could play a modulating role during oligodendroglial differentiation and regeneration.

Optically resolving individual microtubules in live axons

Microtubules are essential cytoskeletal tracks for cargo transportation in axons and also serve as the primary structural scaffold of neurons. Structural assembly, stability, and dynamics of axonal microtubules are of great interest for understanding neuronal functions and pathologies. However, microtubules are so densely packed in axons that their separations are well below the diffraction limit of light, which precludes using optical microscopy for live-cell studies. Here, we present a single-molecule imaging method capable of resolving individual microtubules in live axons. In our method, unlabeled microtubules are revealed by following individual axonal cargos that travel along them. We resolved more than six microtubules in a 1 microm diameter axon by real-time tracking of endosomes containing quantum dots. Our live-cell study also provided direct evidence that endosomes switch between microtubules while traveling along axons, which has been proposed to be the primary means for axonal cargos to effectively navigate through the crowded axoplasmic environment.

Cytometry of raft and caveola membrane microdomains: from flow and imaging techniques to high throughput screening assays

The evolutionarily developed microdomain structure of biological membranes has gained more and more attention in the past decade. The caveolin-free "membrane rafts," the caveolin-expressing rafts (caveolae), as well as other membrane microdomains seem to play an essential role in controlling and coordinating cell-surface molecular recognition, internalization/endocytosis of the bound molecules or pathogenic organisms and in regulation of transmembrane signal transduction processes. Therefore, in many research fields (e.g. neurobiology and immunology), there is an ongoing need to understand the nature of these microdomains and to quantitatively characterize their lipid and protein composition under various physiological and pathological conditions. Flow and image cytometry offer many sophisticated and routine tools to study these questions. In this review, we give an overview of the past efforts to detect and characterize these membrane microdomains by the use of classical cytometric technologies, and finally we will discuss the results and perspectives of a new line of raft cytometry, the "high throughput screening assays of membrane microdomains," based on "lipidomic" and "proteomic" approaches.