title: Airway contractility and smooth muscle Ca(2+) signaling in lung slices from different mouse strains.
abstract: To investigate the hypothesis that altered Ca2+ signaling in airway smooth muscle cells (SMCs) is responsible for airway hyperreactivity, we compared, with the use of confocal and phase-contrast microscopy, the airway contractility and Ca2+ changes in SMCs induced by acetylcholine (ACh) in lung slices from different mouse strains (A/J, Balb/C, and C3H/ HeJ). The airways from each mouse strain displayed a concentration-dependent contraction to ACh. The contractile response of the airways of the C3H/HeJ mice was found, in contrast to earlier studies, to be much greater and faster than that of A/J and Balb/C mice. This difference in airway reactivity can be, in part, attributable to halothane, a volatile anesthetic that was previously used during in vivo measurements of airway reactivity but found here to significantly alter the ACh contractile response of airways in lung slices. The ACh-induced Ca2+ response of the airway SMCs in all of the various mouse strains was also concentration dependent. The magnitude of the initial Ca2+ increase and the frequency of the subsequent Ca2+ oscillations induced by ACh increased with ACh concentration. However, no differences in the Ca2+ responses to ACh could be distinguished between the mouse strains. These results suggest that the mechanism responsible for airway hyperreactivity in different mouse strains resides with the Ca2+ sensitivity of the contractile apparatus of the SMCs rather than with the Ca2+ signaling itself.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA.
authors.forename: Albrecht
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bergner
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Sanderson
mesh_terms: D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000494:pharmacology; D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D020013:Calcium Signaling / Q000502:physiology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006221:Halothane / Q000494:pharmacology; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008168:Lung / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008805:Mice, Inbred A; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000502:physiology*; D013045:Species Specificity; D014665:Vasodilator Agents / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation; D014665:Vasodilator Agents; D000109:Acetylcholine; D006221:Halothane