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ATP: Keeping Airways Clean

Airway hygiene depends largely on mucociliary clearance to keep the airways sterile. Failure results in an inflammatory response, which can cause a number of problems including damage to the airway wall, bronchiectasis, sinusitis, and otitis. ATP helps to regulate airway mucociliary clearance activities that are crucial for pulmonary host defense against bacteria. Little is known, however, about how ATP concentrations in the thin layer of periciliary liquid lining airway surfaces are regulated.

In this study, Seiko F. Okada and colleagues investigated the physiological regulation of ATP concentrations in the airway luminal surface. They performed real-time measurements of ATP concentration in the thin film of airway surface liquid using chimeric protein A-luciferase bound to endogenous antigens on primary human bronchial epithelial cells. They found that ATP concentrations near the surface of airway epithelial cells are similar to those in bulk airway surface liquid under resting conditions but are higher where ATP release rates are increasing. Their data are the first evidence that ATP concentrations at the epithelial cell surface can be in the range for physiological P2Y₂ receptor activation, thereby demonstrating a role for mucosal ATP release in airway epithelial cell volume regulation.

FOOTNOTES

See referenced article, J. Biol. Chem. 2006, 281, 22992-23002

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