技术资料

Multiciliated cells (MCCs) promote fluid flow through coordinated ciliary beating,which requires properly organized basal bodies (BBs). Airway MCCs have large numbers of BBs,which are uniformly oriented and,as we show here,align linearly. The mechanism for BB alignment is unexplored. To study this mechanism,we developed a long-term and high-resolution live-imaging system and used it to observe green fluorescent protein"centrin2"labeled BBs in cultured mouse tracheal MCCs. During MCC differentiation,the BB array adopted four stereotypical patterns,from a clustering floret? pattern to the linear alignment.? This alignment process was correlated with BB orientations,revealed by double immunostaining for BBs and their asymmetrically associated basal feet (BF). The BB alignment was disrupted by disturbing apical microtubules with nocodazole and by a BF-depleting Odf2 mutation. We constructed a theoretical model,which indicated that the apical cytoskeleton,acting like a viscoelastic fluid,provides a self-organizing mechanism in tracheal MCCs to align BBs linearly for mucociliary transport. View Publication

BACKGROUND The Rhinovirus C (RV-C),first identified in 2006,produce high symptom burdens in children and asthmatics,however,their primary target host cell in the airways remains unknown. Our primary hypotheses were that RV-C target ciliated airway epithelial cells (AECs),and that cell specificity is determined by restricted and high expression of the only known RV-C cell-entry factor,cadherin related family member 3 (CDHR3). METHODS RV-C15 (C15) infection in differentiated human bronchial epithelial cell (HBEC) cultures was assessed using immunofluorescent and time-lapse epifluorescent imaging. Morphology of C15-infected differentiated AECs was assessed by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS C15 produced a scattered pattern of infection,and infected cells were shed from the epithelium. The percentage of cells infected with C15 varied from 1.4 to 14.7% depending on cell culture conditions. Infected cells had increased staining for markers of ciliated cells (acetylated-alpha-tubulin [aat],p < 0.001) but not markers of goblet cells (wheat germ agglutinin or Muc5AC,p = ns). CDHR3 expression was increased on ciliated epithelial cells,but not other epithelial cells (p < 0.01). C15 infection caused a 27.4% reduction of ciliated cells expressing CDHR3 (p < 0.01). During differentiation of AECs,CDHR3 expression progressively increased and correlated with both RV-C binding and replication. CONCLUSIONS The RV-C only replicate in ciliated AECs in vitro,leading to infected cell shedding. CDHR3 expression positively correlates with RV-C binding and replication,and is largely confined to ciliated AECs. Our data imply that factors regulating differentiation and CDHR3 production may be important determinants of RV-C illness severity. View Publication