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Laminin, a basement membrane protein discovered in 1979, was shortly thereafter implicated in the polarization of epithelial cells in both mammals and a variety of lower organisms. To transduce a spatial cue to the intrinsic polarization machinery, laminin must polymerize into a dense network that forms the foundation of the basement membrane. Evidence suggests that activation of the small GTPase Rac1 by β1-integrins mobilizes laminin-binding integrins and dystroglycan to consolidate formation of the laminin network and initiate rearrangements of both the actin and microtubule cytoskeleton to help establish the apicobasal axis. A key coordinator of spatial signals from laminin is the serine-threonine kinase Par-1, which is known to affect dystroglycan availability, microtubule and actin organization, and lumen formation. The signaling protein integrin-linked kinase (ILK) may also play a role. Despite significant advances, knowledge of the mechanism by which assembled laminin produces a spatial signal remains fragmentary, and much more research into the complex functions of laminin in polarization and other cellular processes is needed.

Directional migration of MDCK cells is regulated by the ratio of the deposited basement membrane proteins laminin-511 and laminin-332. Knockdown of laminin-511 or its receptor integrin α3 inhibits directional migration and destabilizes cell–cell contacts, disturbing the polarization machinery., Sustained directional migration of epithelial cells is essential for regeneration of injured epithelia. Front–rear polarity of migrating cells is determined by local activation of a signaling network involving Cdc42 and other factors in response to spatial cues from the environment, the nature of which are obscure. We examined the roles of laminin (LM)-511 and LM-332, two structurally different laminin isoforms, in the migration of Madin–Darby canine kidney cells by suppressing expression of their α subunits using RNA interference. We determined that knockdown of LM-511 inhibits directional migration and destabilizes cell–cell contacts, in part by disturbing the localization and activity of the polarization machinery. Suppression of integrin α3, a laminin receptor subunit, in cells synthesizing normal amounts of both laminins has a similar effect as knockdown of LM-511. Surprisingly, simultaneous suppression of both laminin α5 and laminin α3 restores directional migration and cell–cell contact stability, suggesting that cells recognize a haptotactic gradient formed by a combination of laminins.

The basolateral Na(+)-K(+)-2Cl(-) cotransporter (NKCC1) is a key determinant of transepithelial chloride secretion and dysregulation of chloride secretion is a common feature of many diseases including secretory diarrhea. We have previously shown that activation of protein kinase C (PKC) markedly reduces transepithelial chloride secretion in human colonic T84 cells, which correlates with both functional inhibition and loss of the NKCC1 surface expression. In the present study, we defined the specific roles of PKC isoforms in regulating epithelial NKCC1 and chloride secretion utilizing adenoviral vectors that express shRNAs targeting human PKC isoforms (α, δ, ε) (shPKCs) or LacZ (shLacZ, non-targeting control). After 72 h of adenoviral transduction, protein levels of the PKC isoforms in shPKCs-T84 cells were decreased by ∼90% compared with the shLacZ-control. Activation of PKCs by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) caused a redistribution of NKCC1 immunostaining from the basolateral membrane to intracellular vesicles in both shLacZ- and shPKCα-T84 cells, whereas the effect of PMA was not observed in shPKCδ- and shPKCε- cells. These results were further confirmed by basolateral surface biotinylation. Furthermore, activation of PKCs by PMA inhibited cAMP-stimulated chloride secretion in the uninfected, shLacZ- and shPKCα-T84 monolayers, but the inhibitory effect was significantly attenuated in shPKCδ- and shPKCε-T84 monolayers. In conclusion, the activated novel isoforms PKCδ or PKCε, but not the conventional isoform PKCα, inhibits transepithelial chloride secretion through inducing internalization of the basolateral surface NKCC1. Our study reveals that the novel PKC isoform-regulated NKCC1 surface expression plays an important role in the regulation of chloride secretion.

A mAb AD7, raised against canine liver Golgi membranes, recognizes a novel, 200-kD protein (p200) which is found in a wide variety of cultured cell lines. Immunofluorescence staining of cultured cells with the AD7 antibody produced intense staining of p200 in the juxtanuclear Golgi complex and more diffuse staining of p200 in the cytoplasm. The p200 protein in the Golgi complex was colocalized with other Golgi proteins, including mannosidase II and beta-COP, a coatomer protein. Localization of p200 by immunoperoxidase staining at the electron microscopic level revealed concentrations of p200 at the dilated rims of Golgi cisternae. Biochemical studies showed that p200 is a peripheral membrane protein which partitions to the aqueous phase of Triton X-114 solutions and is phosphorylated. The p200 protein is located on the cytoplasmic face of membranes, since it was accessible to trypsin digestion in microsomal preparations, and is recovered in approximately equal amounts in membrane pellets and in the cytosol of homogenized cells. Immunofluorescence staining of normal rat kidney cells exposed to the toxin brefeldin A (BFA), showed that there was very rapid redistribution of p200, which was dissociated from Golgi membranes in the presence of this drug. The effect of BFA was reversible, since upon removal of the toxin, AD7 rapidly reassociated with the Golgi complex. In the BFA-resistant cell line PtK1, BFA failed to cause redistribution of p200 from Golgi membranes. Taken together, these results indicate that the p200 Golgi membrane-associated protein has many properties in common with the coatomer protein, beta-COP.

In secretory epithelial cells, the basolateral Na+-K+-2Cl−cotransporter (NKCC1) plays a major role in salt and fluid secretion. Our laboratory has identified NKCC1 surface expression as an important regulatory mechanism for Cl−secretion in the colonic crypt cell line T84, a process also present in native human colonic crypts. We previously showed that activation of protein kinase C (PKC) by carbachol and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) decreases NKCC1 surface expression in T84 cells. However, the specific endocytic entry pathway has not been defined. We used a Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell line stably transfected with enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-NKCC1 to map NKCC1 entry during PMA exposure. At given times, we fixed and stained the cells with specific markers (e.g., dynamin II, clathrin heavy chain, and caveolin-1). We also used chlorpromazine, methyl-β-cyclodextrin, amiloride, and dynasore, blockers of the clathrin, caveolin, and macropinocytosis pathways and the vesicle “pinchase” dynamin, respectively. We found that PMA caused dose- and time-dependent NKCC1 endocytosis. After 2.5 min of PMA exposure, ∼80% of EGFP-NKCC1 endocytic vesicles colocalized with clathrin and ∼40% colocalized with dynamin II and with the transferrin receptor, the uptake of which is also mediated by clathrin-coated vesicles. We did not observe significant colocalization of EGFP-NKCC1 endocytic vesicles with caveolin-1, a marker of the caveolae-mediated endocytic pathway. We quantified the effect of each inhibitor on PMA-induced EGFP-NKCC1 endocytosis and found that only chlorpromazine and dynasore caused significant inhibition compared with the untreated control (61% and 25%, respectively, at 2.5 min). Together, these results strongly support the conclusion that PMA-stimulated NKCC1 endocytosis is associated with a clathrin pathway.

In the embryo, epithelia give rise to mesenchyme at specific times and places. Recently, it has been reported (Greenburg, G., and E. D. Hay. 1986. Dev. Biol. 115:363-379; Greenberg, G., and E. D. Hay. 1988. Development (Camb.). 102:605-622) that definitive epithelia can give rise to fibroblast-like cells when suspended within type I collagen gels. We wanted to know whether Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells, an epithelial line, can form mesenchyme under similar conditions. Small explants of MDCK cells on basement membrane were suspended within or placed on top of extracellular matrix gels. MDCK cells on basement membrane gel are tall, columnar in shape, and ultrastructurally resemble epithelia transporting fluid and ions. MDCK explants cultured on type I collagen gel give rise to isolated fusiform-shaped cells that migrate over the gel surface. The fusiform cells extend pseudopodia and filopodia, lose cell membrane specializations, and develop an actin cortex around the entire cell. Unlike true mesenchymal cells, which express vimentin and type I collagen, fusiform cells produce both keratin and vimentin, continue to express laminin, and do not turn on type I collagen. Fusiform cells are not apically-basally polarized, but show mesenchymal cell polarity. Influenza hemagglutinin and virus budding localize to the front end or entire cell surface. Na,K-ATPase occurs intracellularly and also symmetrically distributes on the cell surface. Fodrin becomes diffusely distributed along the plasma membrane, ZO-1 cannot be detected, and desmoplakins distribute randomly in the cytoplasm. The loss of epithelial polarity and acquisition of mesenchymal cell polarity and shape by fusiform MDCK cells on type I collagen gel was previously unsuspected. The phenomenon may offer new opportunities for studying cytoplasmic and nuclear mechanisms regulating cell shape and polarity.