TRPA1 Mediates Mechanical Currents in the Plasma Membrane of Mouse Sensory Neurons

Mechanosensitive channels serve as essential sensors for cells to interact with their environment. The identity of mechanosensitive channels that underlie somatosensory touch transduction is still a mystery. One promising mechanotransduction candidate is the Transient Receptor Potential Ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) ion channel. To determine the role of TRPA1 in the generation of mechanically-sensitive currents, we used dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neuron cultures from adult mice and applied rapid focal mechanical stimulation (indentation) to the soma membrane. Small neurons (diameter <27 µm) were studied because TRPA1 is functionally present in these neurons which largely give rise to C-fiber afferents in vivo. Small neurons were classified by isolectin B4 binding

Mechanosensing is critical for axon growth in the developing brain.

During nervous system development, neurons extend axons along well-defined pathways. The current understanding of axon pathfinding is based mainly on chemical signaling. However, growing neurons interact not only chemically but also mechanically with their environment. Here we identify mechanical signals as important regulators of axon pathfinding. In vitro, substrate stiffness determined growth patterns of Xenopus retinal ganglion cell axons. In vivo atomic force microscopy revealed a noticeable pattern of stiffness gradients in the embryonic brain. Retinal ganglion cell axons grew toward softer tissue, which was reproduced in vitro in the absence of chemical gradients. To test the importance of mechanical signals for axon growth in vivo, we altered brain stiffness, blocked mechanotransduction pharmacologically and knocked down the mechanosensitive ion channel piezo1. All treatments resulted in aberrant axonal growth and pathfinding errors, suggesting that local tissue stiffness, read out by mechanosensitive ion channels, is critically involved in instructing neuronal growth in vivo.This work was supported by the German National Academic Foundation (scholarship to D.E.K.), Wellcome Trust and Cambridge Trusts (scholarships to A.J.T.), Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States (scholarship to S.K.F.), Herchel Smith Foundation (Research Studentship to S.K.F.), CNPq 307333/2013-2 (L.d.F.C.), NAP-PRP-USP and FAPESP 11/50761-2 (L.d.F.C.), UK EPSRC BT grant (J.G.), Wellcome Trust WT085314 and the European Research Council 322817 grants (C.E.H.); an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Feodor Lynen Fellowship (K.F.), UK BBSRC grant BB/M021394/1 (K.F.), the Human Frontier Science Program Young Investigator Grant RGY0074/2013 (K.F.), the UK Medical Research Council Career Development Award G1100312/1 (K.F.) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute Of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R21HD080585 (K.F.).This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Publishing Group via https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.439

Expression of Transient Receptor Potential Ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) and Its Role in Insulin Release from Rat Pancreatic Beta Cells

<div><h3>Objective</h3><p>Several transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are expressed in pancreatic beta cells and have been proposed to be involved in insulin secretion. However, the endogenous ligands for these channels are far from clear. Here, we demonstrate the expression of the transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) ion channel in the pancreatic beta cells and its role in insulin release. TRPA1 is an attractive candidate for inducing insulin release because it is calcium permeable and is activated by molecules that are produced during oxidative glycolysis.</p> <h3>Methods</h3><p>Immunohistochemistry, RT-PCR, and Western blot techniques were used to determine the expression of TRPA1 channel. Ca²⁺ fluorescence imaging and electrophysiology (voltage- and current-clamp) techniques were used to study the channel properties. TRPA1-mediated insulin release was determined using ELISA.</p> <h3>Results</h3><p>TRPA1 is abundantly expressed in a rat pancreatic beta cell line and freshly isolated rat pancreatic beta cells, but not in pancreatic alpha cells. Activation of TRPA1 by allyl isothiocyanate (AITC), hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE), and cyclopentenone prostaglandins (PGJ₂) and a novel agonist methylglyoxal (MG) induces membrane current, depolarization, and Ca²⁺ influx leading to generation of action potentials in a pancreatic beta cell line and primary cultured pancreatic beta cells. Activation of TRPA1 by agonists stimulates insulin release in pancreatic beta cells that can be inhibited by TRPA1 antagonists such as HC030031 or AP-18 and by RNA interference. TRPA1-mediated insulin release is also observed in conditions of voltage-gated Na⁺ and Ca²⁺ channel blockade as well as ATP sensitive potassium (K_ATP) channel activation.</p> <h3>Conclusions</h3><p>We propose that endogenous and exogenous ligands of TRPA1 cause Ca²⁺ influx and induce basal insulin release and that TRPA1-mediated depolarization acts synergistically with K_ATP channel blockade to facilitate insulin release.</p> </div

Neurogenic inflammation after traumatic brain injury and its potentiation of classical inflammation

Background: The neuroinflammatory response following traumatic brain injury (TBI) is known to be a key secondary injury factor that can drive ongoing neuronal injury. Despite this, treatments that have targeted aspects of the inflammatory pathway have not shown significant efficacy in clinical trials. Main body: We suggest that this may be because classical inflammation only represents part of the story, with activation of neurogenic inflammation potentially one of the key initiating inflammatory events following TBI. Indeed, evidence suggests that the transient receptor potential cation channels (TRP channels), TRPV1 and TRPA1, are polymodal receptors that are activated by a variety of stimuli associated with TBI, including mechanical shear stress, leading to the release of neuropeptides such as substance P (SP). SP augments many aspects of the classical inflammatory response via activation of microglia and astrocytes, degranulation of mast cells, and promoting leukocyte migration. Furthermore, SP may initiate the earliest changes seen in blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, namely the increased transcellular transport of plasma proteins via activation of caveolae. This is in line with reports that alterations in transcellular transport are seen first following TBI, prior to decreases in expression of tight-junction proteins such as claudin-5 and occludin. Indeed, the receptor for SP, the tachykinin NK1 receptor, is found in caveolae and its activation following TBI may allow influx of albumin and other plasma proteins which directly augment the inflammatory response by activating astrocytes and microglia. Conclusions: As such, the neurogenic inflammatory response can exacerbate classical inflammation via a positive feedback loop, with classical inflammatory mediators such as bradykinin and prostaglandins then further stimulating TRP receptors. Accordingly, complete inhibition of neuroinflammation following TBI may require the inhibition of both classical and neurogenic inflammatory pathways.Frances Corrigan, Kimberley A. Mander, Anna V. Leonard and Robert Vin

Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 1 is essential for cisplatin-induced heat hyperalgesia in mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cisplatin is primarily used for treatment of ovarian and testicular cancer. Oxaliplatin is the only effective treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer. Both are known to cause dose related, cumulative toxic effects on the peripheral nervous system and thirty to forty percent of cancer patients receiving these agents experience painful peripheral neuropathy. The mechanisms underlying painful platinum-induced neuropathy remain poorly understood. Previous studies have demonstrated important roles for TRPV1, TRPM8, and TRPA1 in inflammation and nerve injury induced pain.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, using real-time, reverse transcriptase, polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), we analyzed the expression of TRPV1, TRPM8, and TRPA1 induced by cisplatin or oxaliplatin in vitro and in vivo. For in vitro studies, cultured E15 rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons were treated for up to 48 hours with cisplatin or oxaliplatin. For in vivo studies, trigeminal ganglia (TG) were isolated from mice treated with platinum drugs for three weeks. We show that cisplatin and oxaliplatin-treated DRG neurons had significantly increased in TRPV1, TRPA1, and TRPM8 mRNA expression. TG neurons from cisplatin treated mice had significant increases in TRPV1 and TRPA1 mRNA expression while oxaliplatin strongly induced only TRPA1. Furthermore, compared to the cisplatin-treated wild-type mice, cisplatin-treated TRPV1-null mice developed mechanical allodynia but did not exhibit enhancement of noxious heat- evoked pain responses. Immunohistochemistry studies showed that cisplatin-treated mice had no change in the proportion of the TRPV1 immunopositive TG neurons.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results indicate that TRPV1 and TRPA1 could contribute to the development of thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia following cisplatin-induced painful neuropathy but that TRPV1 has a crucial role in cisplatin-induced thermal hyperalgesia in vivo.</p