Repair of the endothelium occurs in the presence of continued blood flow, yet the mechanisms by which shear forces affect endothelial wound closure remain elusive. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that shear stress enhances endothelial cell wound closure. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) or human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCAEC) were cultured on type I collagen-coated coverslips. Cell monolayers were sheared for 18 h in a parallel-plate flow chamber at 12 dyn/cm(2) to attain cellular alignment and then wounded by scraping with a metal spatula. Subsequently, the monolayers were exposed to a laminar shear stress of 3, 12, or 20 dyn/cm(2) under shear-wound-shear (S-W-sH) or shear-wound-static (S-W-sT) conditions for 6 h. Wound closure was measured as a percentage of original wound width. Cell area, centroid-to-centroid distance, and cell velocity were also measured. HUVEC wounds in the S-W-sH group exposed to 3, 12, or 20 dyn/cm(2) closed to 21, 39, or 50%, respectively, compared with only 59% in the S-W-sT cells. Similarly, HCAEC wounds closed to 29, 49, or 33% (S-W-sH) compared with 58% in the S-W-sT cells. Cell spreading and migration, but not proliferation, were the major mechanisms accounting for the increases in wound closure rate. These results suggest that physiological levels of shear stress enhance endothelial repair.
Keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) has recently been shown to protect rats from hyperoxia-induced lung injury. However, the mechanism of the protective effect of KGF remains unclear. To elucidate the mechanism of action of KGF, we determined the effect of KGF on the barrier function of epithelial monolayers exposed to H(2)O(2). Calu-3 (human airway epithelial cells) were grown on Transwell membranes, and the permeability to fluorescein isothiocyanate-albumin was measured. Exposure to 0.5 mM H(2)O(2) significantly increased permeability from 1.50 +/- 0.09 to 24.8 +/- 1.5 (mean +/- SE x 10(-6) cm/s; P < 0.001). Incubation of monolayers with 50 ng/ml KGF for 24 h significantly reduced basal albumin flux (0.85 +/- 0.09; P < 0.001), and pretreatment with KGF completely abolished the H(2)O(2)-induced permeability increase (1.08 +/- 0.09). The protective effect of KGF was dose dependent and was observed at concentrations as low as 1 ng/ml. Partial amelioration of the H(2)O(2)-induced permeability increase occurred after 1 h of exposure to KGF. Treatment of cells with calphostin C, an inhibitor of protein kinase C (PKC), had no effect on the permeability of control or H(2)O(2)-treated cells. Calphostin C abolished both the KGF-mediated decrease in basal albumin flux and the protective effect of KGF against H(2)O(2)-induced increases in permeability. KGF pretreatment also prevented H(2)O(2)-induced disruption of F-actin staining patterns, suggesting stabilization of the cytoskeleton. These studies demonstrate that KGF decreases albumin flux across airway epithelial monolayers and prevents H(2)O(2)-induced increases in permeability by a PKC-dependent process that may involve stabilization of the cytoskeleton.
The repair of airway epithelium after injury is crucial in restoring epithelial barrier integrity. Because the airways are stretched and compressed due to changes in both circumferential and longitudinal dimensions during respiration and may be overdistended during mechanical ventilation, we investigated the effect of cyclic strain on the repair of epithelial wounds. Both cyclic elongation and compression significantly slowed repair, with compression having the greatest effect. We developed a mathematical model of the mechanisms involved in airway epithelial cell wound closure. The model focuses on the differences in spreading, migration, and proliferation with cyclic strain by using separate parameters for each process and incorporating a time delay for the mitotic component. Numerical solutions of model equations determine the shape of the diffusive wave solutions of cell density that correspond to the influx of cells into the wound during the initial phase of reepithelialization. Model simulations were compared with experimental measurements of cell density and the rate of wound closure, and parameters were determined based on measurements from airway epithelial cells from several different sources. The contributions of spreading, migration, and mitosis were investigated both numerically and experimentally by using cytochalasin D to inhibit cell motility and mitomycin C to inhibit proliferation.
Repair of the airway epithelium after injury is critical for the maintenance of barrier function and the limitation of airway hyperreactivity. Airway epithelial cells (AECs) metabolize arachidonic acid to biologically active eicosanoids via the enzyme cyclooxygenase (COX). We investigated whether stimulating or inhibiting COX metabolites would affect wound closure in monolayers of cultured AECs. Inhibiting COX with indomethacin resulted in a dose-dependent inhibition of wound closure in human and feline AECs. Specific inhibitors for both COX-1 and COX-2 isoforms impaired wound healing. Inhibitors of 5-lipoxygenase did not affect wound closure in these cells. The addition of prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) eliminated the inhibition due to indomethacin treatment, and the exogenous application of PGE(2) stimulated wound closure in a dose-dependent manner. Inhibition of COX with indomethacin only at initial time points resulted in a sustained inhibition of wound closure, indicating that prostanoids are involved in early wound repair processes such as spreading and migration. These differences in wound closure may be important if arachidonic acid metabolism and eicosanoid concentrations are altered in disease states such as asthma.
The repair of airway epithelium after injury is crucial in restoring epithelial barrier integrity. Although the airway epithelium is stretched and compressed due to changes in both circumferential and longitudinal dimensions during respiration and may be overdistended during mechanical ventilation, the effect of cyclic strain on the repair of epithelial wounds is unknown. Human and cat airway epithelial cells were cultured on flexible membranes, wounded by scraping with a metal spatula, and subjected to cyclic strain using the Flexercell Strain Unit. Because the radial strain profile in the wells was nonuniform, we compared closure in regions of elongation and compression within the same well. Both cyclic elongation and cyclic compression significantly slowed repair, with compression having the greatest effect. This attenuation was dependent upon the time of relaxation (TR) during the cycle. When wells were stretched at 10 cycles/min (6 s/cycle) with TR = 5 s, wounds closed similarly to wounds in static wells, whereas in wells with TR = 1 s, significant inhibition was observed. As the TR during cycles increased (higher TR), wounds closed faster. We measured the effect of strain at various TRs on cell area and centroid-centroid distance (CD) as a measure of spreading and migration. While cell area and CD in static wells significantly increased over time, the area and CD of cells in the elongated regions did not change. Cells in compressed regions were significantly smaller, with significantly lower CD. Cell area and CD became progressively larger with increasing TR. These results suggest that mechanical strain inhibits epithelial repair.
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