title: Histamine alters cadherin-mediated sites of endothelial adhesion.
abstract: We tested the hypothesis that histamine alters the focal apposition of endothelial cells by acting on sites of cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion. Focal apposition was measured as the impedance of a cell-covered electrode, which was partitioned into a cell-matrix resistance, a cell-cell resistance, and membrane capacitance. Histamine causes an immediate, short-lived decrease in the impedance of an electrode covered with human umbilical vein endothelial (HUVE) cells. ECV304 cells are a line of spontaneously transformed HUVE cells that do not express the endothelial cadherin, cadherin-5. Histamine increased ECV304 cell calcium to 600 nM. Histamine did not increase myosin light chain phosphorylation of control or transfected ECV304 cells. ECV304 cells transfected with either E-cadherin or cadherin-5 on a dexamethasone-responsive plasmid (pLKneo) increased their cell-cell resistance when stimulated with dexamethasone, whereas ECV304 cells transfected with pLKneo-lacZ did not. Histamine did not affect the impedance of ECV304 cells transfected with pLKneo-lacZ. In contrast, histamine decreased the cell-cell resistance of ECV304 cells transfected with either pLKneo-E-cadherin or pLKneo-cadherin-5. From these data, we conclude that histamine acts on sites of cadherin-mediated cell-cell apposition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA. michael-winter@uiowa.edu
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kamath
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Ries
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Shasby
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Shasby
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016466:CHO Cells; D015820:Cadherins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D002199:Capillary Permeability / Q000187:drug effects; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects; D002461:Cell Line, Transformed; D006224:Cricetinae; D004487:Edema / Q000378:metabolism; D017097:Electric Impedance; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D016257:Fura-2; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000502:physiology; D006632:Histamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D014162:Transfection; D014471:Umbilical Veins / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D006632:Histamine; D002118:Calcium; D016257:Fura-2