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Neurochemical characterisation of sensory receptors in airway smooth muscle: comparison with pulmonary neuroepithelial bodies

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Abstract

Descriptions of morphologically well-defined sensory airway receptors are sparse, in contrast to the multiplicity of airway receptors that have been identified electrophysiologically. The present study aimed at further determining the location, morphology and neurochemical coding of subepithelial receptor-like structures that have been sporadically reported in the wall of large diameter airways. The results were compared with those obtained for pulmonary neuroepithelial bodies (NEBs), which are complex intraepithelial sensory airway receptors. Multiple immunocytochemical staining showed branching laminar subepithelial receptor-like endings, which were found to intercalate in the smooth muscle layer of intrapulmonary conducting airways in rats. Because of the consistent intimate association with the airway smooth muscle, the laminar terminals will further be referred to as ‘smooth muscle-associated airway receptors (SMARs)’. SMARs were characterised by their Na+/K+-ATPase α3, vesicular glutamate transporter 1 (VGLUT1) and VGLUT2-immunoreactivity, expression of the ATP receptor P2X3, and the presence of calcium-binding proteins. Nerve fibres giving rise to SMARs were shown to be myelinated and to have a vagal origin. Interestingly, the neurochemical coding and receptor-like appearance of SMARs appeared to be almost identical to at least part of the complex vagal sensory terminals in NEBs. Intraepithelial nerve endings in pulmonary NEBs were indeed also shown to originate from myelinated vagal afferent nerve fibres, and to express Na+/K+-ATPase α3, VGLUT1, VGLUT2, P2X3 and calcium-binding proteins. Since several of the latter proteins have been reported as markers for mechanoreceptor terminals in other organs, both SMARs and the vagal nodose nerve terminals in NEBs seem good candidates to represent the morphological counterparts of at least subsets of the extensive population of physiologically characterised myelinated vagal airway mechanoreceptors. The observation that SMARs and NEBs are regularly found in each other’s immediate neighbourhood, and the very similar characteristics of their nerve terminals, point out that the interpretation of electrophysiological data based on ‘local’ stimuli should be made with great caution.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the following research grants: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (G.0155.01 to D.A.); NOI-BOF (to D.A.) and BOF-RUCA Small Projects (KP02 to I.B. and KP03 to D.A.) from the University of Antwerp.The skilful technical assistance of R. Spillemaeckers, G. Svensson, F. Terloo and G. Vermeiren is gratefully acknowledged. We especially thank J. Van Daele and D. De Rijck for help with microscopy, imaging and illustrations, D. Vindevogel for aid with the manuscript, and S. Kockelberg and H. De Pauw for administrative help. We are indebted to Prof. G. Burnstock (Director of the Autonomic Neuroscience Institute, Royal Free and University College Medical School, London, UK) for his invaluable input in the ATP receptor studies.

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  1. Laboratory of Cell Biology and Histology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020, Antwerp, Belgium

    Inge Brouns, Isabel Pintelon, Ian De Proost, Roel Alewaters, Jean-Pierre Timmermans & Dirk Adriaensen

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  1. Inge Brouns
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  2. Isabel Pintelon
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  3. Ian De Proost
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  4. Roel Alewaters
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  5. Jean-Pierre Timmermans
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  6. Dirk Adriaensen
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Correspondence to Dirk Adriaensen.

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Brouns, I., Pintelon, I., De Proost, I. et al. Neurochemical characterisation of sensory receptors in airway smooth muscle: comparison with pulmonary neuroepithelial bodies. Histochem Cell Biol 125, 351–367 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00418-005-0078-9

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