The Role of Chloride Channels in Regulation of Pulmonary Artery Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation
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The Role of Chloride Channels in Regulation of Pulmonary Artery Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation by Wenbin Liang A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Physiology University of Toronto © Copyright by Wenbin Liang, 2011 The Role of Chloride Channels in Regulation of Pulmonary Artery Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation Wenbin Liang Doctor of Philosophy Department of Physiology University of Toronto 2011 Abstract Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare but fatal disease with an annual mortality rate of 15% despite current therapies. Uncontrolled proliferation of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) results in adverse vascular remodeling contributing to PAH. Understanding the mechanisms of PASMC proliferation may identify new targets for treatment. Chloride currents/channels (ICl) are expressed in PASMCs and their roles in proliferation have been suggested based on their importance in resting membrane potential and cell volume regulation. The present study explored the role of ICl in proliferation in rat and human PASMCs. We found that either nonspecific ICl inhibitors (DIDS or NPPB) or a putative specific blocker of swelling- activated ICl (ICl,swell) reduced proliferation of PASMCs cultured in serum-containing media. Patch-clamp studies showed that proliferating PASMCs had increased baseline ICl and ICl,swell in association with depolarized membrane potentials. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR studies identified expressions of CLC-3, a candidate gene of ICl,swell, and several other CLC genes in proliferating PASMCs. While selective knockdown of CLC-3 with lentiviral shRNA reduced PASMC proliferation, it had no effect on ICl,swell. These findings are consistent with the conclusion that ICl regulate proliferation of PASMCs and suggest that selective ICl inhibition may be useful in treating pulmonary arterial hypertension. ii Acknowledgments It has been a great experience to study in the Ph.D program at the Department of Physiology. The training is a critical part of my life and I am very proud of it. I am indebted to countless people who taught me many things that deeply affect my research and life. My supervisor Dr. Peter Backx is a knowledgeable scientist and inspirational mentor. His enthusiasm in ion channels has a profound influence on this work and my research career. This thesis is dedicated to my co-supervisor Dr. Michael Ward (1956~2009), an eminent scientist and extraordinary mentor, for showing me the joy of doing science. The guidance from my supervisory committee members, Drs. Christine Bear, Steffen-Sebastian Bolz and Scott Heximer, helped me overcoming many hurdles in this work. I would also like to thank my former advisors, Drs. Rui Wang, Lingyun (Lily) Wu and Shizhong Jiang, for introducing me to the exciting field of cardiovascular research. I also thank Dr. Zhong-Ping Feng for help with coursework and Ms. Rosalie Pang, Sandra Monkewich and Dr. Marc Perry for administrative supports. It was my pleasure to know so many great people during my study in the Backx and Ward laboratories. Their knowledge and kindness contributed a lot to my research work. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Drs. B-G. Kerfant, R. A. Rose, R. G. Tsushima, G. Y. Oudit, H. Sun, K-H Kim, N. D'Avanzo, R. Pekhletski, N. Gong, D. Zhao, M. Cieslak, M. M. Patel, M. G. Kabir, M. G. Trivieri, P. C. Papageorgiou, R. D. Vanderlaan, I. Lorenzen-Schmidt, D. Sednev, K. Ban, A. J. Cooper, J. B. Ray, J. Z. He, P. Plant, S. Beca, P. B. Helli, R. Sobbi, J. Simpson, G. P. Farman, J. Liu, Y. Wang, L. Huang, N. Bousette, Y. Fedyshyn, T. Ketela, A. Rosen, M. Mirkhani, B. K. Panama, W. Yang, M. Sellan, and F. Izaddoustdar. I sincerely apologize for those people who helped me but their names are not mentioned here. Finally, I want to thank my family for their encouragements and continuous supports during my study. Without their supports and understanding, I would never finish this work. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ vii List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. viii List of Appendices .......................................................................................................................... x Chapter 1 General Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 2 1.1 Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) ........................................................................... 2 1.1.1 PAH: A Disease of Pulmonary Vasculature ........................................................... 2 1.1.2 Hypoxia and PAH ................................................................................................... 4 1.1.3 Phenotypes of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells ....................................................... 5 1.2 Cellular Proliferation .......................................................................................................... 6 1.2.1 Cell Cycle ................................................................................................................ 6 1.2.2 Cell Volume Regulation and its Role in Proliferation ............................................ 8 1.2.3 Membrane Potential and Ca2+ in Proliferation ...................................................... 10 1.3 Mammalian Cl- Channels .................................................................................................. 11 1.3.1 Cl- Equilibrium and Cl- Channels in Mammalian Tissues .................................... 11 1.3.2 Swelling-Activated Cl- Currents ........................................................................... 13 1.3.3 Ca2+-Activated Cl- Currents .................................................................................. 16 1.3.4 CLC Family .......................................................................................................... 19 1.3.5 Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductor Regulator (CFTR) ........................... 26 1.3.6 Bestrophin Family ................................................................................................. 27 1.3.7 TMEM16 Family .................................................................................................. 27 1.3.8 Ligand-Gated Cl- Channels ................................................................................... 28 iv 1.4 Aims of Present Studies .................................................................................................... 28 1.5 RNA Interference .............................................................................................................. 29 1.5.1 siRNA-Mediated Gene Silencing ......................................................................... 29 1.5.2 siRNA Duplex Designing ..................................................................................... 31 1.5.3 Validation of Knockdown ..................................................................................... 36 Chapter 2 Materials and Methods .............................................................................................. 38 2 Materials and Methods ............................................................................................................. 39 2.1 Animals ........................................................................................................................... 39 2.2 Detection of PASMC Proliferation by BrdU Uptake In Vivo ......................................... 39 2.3 Acute Dissociation of Rat PASMCs ............................................................................... 39 2.4 Primary Culture of Rat PASMCs ................................................................................... 40 2.5 Effect of Cl- Channel Inhibitors on Cell Number of Cultured Rat PASMCs ................. 40 2.6 Effect of Cl- Channel Inhibitors on BrdU Incorporation and DNA Content in Cultured Rat PASMCs .................................................................................................... 41 2.7 Effect of Cl- Channel Inhibitors on Annexin V and PI Staining in Cultured Rat PASMCs ......................................................................................................................... 41 2.8 Culture and Hypoxia Exposure of Human PASMCs ..................................................... 42 2.9 Immunocytostaining of CLC-3 in Human PASMCs ...................................................... 43 2.10 Quantitative Real-Time Reverse Transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) ................................. 43 2.11 Lentivirus Generation ..................................................................................................... 44 2.12 Transduction of Human PASMCs .................................................................................. 45 2.13 Recording of Membrane Potential by Whole-Cell Patch-Clamp Technique in Rat PASMCs ........................................................................................................................