Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 108, Issue 23, Pages 9478-9483Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1019418108
Keywords
airway sensory innervation; respiratory epithelium; jugular-nodose ganglion; bitter-tasting substances
Categories
Funding
- National Institutes of Health [HL083192]
- Medical Faculty of the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Germany
- Universities of Giessen and Marburg Lung Center
- von Behring-Rontgen-Stiftung
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Ask authors/readers for more resources
In the epithelium of the lower airways, a cell type of unknown function has been termed brush cell because of a distinctive ultrastructural feature, an apical tuft of microvilli. Morphologically similar cells in the nose have been identified as solitary chemosensory cells responding to taste stimuli and triggering trigeminal reflexes. Here we show that brush cells of the mouse trachea express the receptors (Tas2R105, Tas2R108), the downstream signaling molecules (alpha-gustducin, phospholipase C(beta 2)) of bitter taste transduction, the synthesis and packaging machinery for acetylcholine, and are addressed by vagal sensory nerve fibers carrying nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Tracheal application of an nAChR agonist caused a reduction in breathing frequency. Similarly, cycloheximide, a Tas2R108 agonist, evoked a drop in respiratory rate, being sensitive to nicotinic receptor blockade and epithelium removal. This identifies brush cells as cholinergic sensors of the chemical composition of the lower airway luminal microenvironment that are directly linked to the regulation of respiration.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available