Kc. Kim et al., INVOLVEMENT OF A SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION MECHANISM IN ATP-INDUCED MUCIN RELEASE FROM CULTURED AIRWAY GOBLET CELLS, American journal of respiratory cell and molecular biology, 8(2), 1993, pp. 121-125
Release of mucins from cultured airway surface epithelial cells can be
stimulated by extracellular ATP via a P2-purinergic receptor-mediated
mechanism (K. C. Kim and B. C. Lee. 1991. Br. J. Pharmacol. 103:1053-
1056). In this report, we studied the mechanism by which extracellular
ATP induces the mucin release. We found that: (1) ATP increased both
mucin release and generation of inositol phosphates in a dose-dependen
t fashion, and their dose-effect relationships were almost superimpose
d; (2) the increases in both mucin release and the phosphatidylinosito
l phosphate (PI) turnover by extracellular ATP were partially, but alm
ost equally, blocked by the pretreatment with pertussis toxin (42% for
mucin release and 44 % for PI turnover). We conclude that in cultured
airway goblet cells extracellular ATP stimulates mucin release by a s
ignal transduction mechanism, which seems to involve coupling of ATP-a
ctivated P2 purinoceptors with phospholipase C, at least in part, via
pertussis toxin-sensitive GTP-binding proteins. This may be an importa
nt finding in understanding the regulation of mucin release by airway
goblet cells, since a number of agents present in the airway could inf
luence this signal transduction pathway and subsequently modulate the
mucin secretion.