The role of the P2X7 receptor in injury-induced calcium dynamics and cell migration in the corneal epithelium

• Main Author: Minns, Martin Scott
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Cellular biology; Calcium; Cell migration; Cornea; Epithelium; Focal adhesions; Purinergic receptors
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/2144/16225

Wound healing in the corneal epithelium is an essential process to maintain corneal clarity and organism health. The earliest events of cellular injury response include the release of nucleotides and the activation of P2 purinergic receptors. While the purinergic receptor P2X7 has been shown to promote cell migration, its role in corneal epithelial wound healing is still poorly understood. The goal of this work is to better understand the role of P2X7 in the injury response. We analyzed P2X7 expression after epithelial injury in rat corneal organ cultures and found that the receptor localizes to the leading edge of the corneal epithelium. However, overall mRNA and protein expression of P2X7 decreased after injury. Inhibition of P2X7 activation significantly delayed wound closure and prevented the leading edge-localization after injury. We found that P2X7 inhibition altered the wound-induced calcium wave in epithelial cells and altered the number and distribution of focal adhesions in the migrating cells. Live cell imaging of epithelial cells showed that P2X7 inhibition led to altered actin rearrangement, with thick actin bundles in the treated cells. In order to determine the importance of P2X7 in epithelial differentiation and stratified cell migration, we developed a stratified culture model. The cells in the stratified model expressed proliferative and differentiation markers similar to organ cultured corneas, as well as similar P2X7 expression and localization after injury. Together, these results show the importance of P2X7 in the overall purinergic response to injury, and provide tools to study P2X7 in stratified corneal cell migration. To determine if P2X7 may contribute to pathologic delayed wound healing in diseases such as type 2 diabetes, we analyzed P2X7 expression in diabetic human corneas and diabetic model rodent corneas. We showed that P2X7 expression is significantly elevated in unwounded diabetic corneas, and that wound healing is delayed in the rodent model. These data show that elevated P2X7 expression may contribute to the delayed healing in disease and may be a possible therapeutic target.