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A functional circuit formed by the autonomic nerves and myofibroblasts controls mammalian alveolar formation for gas exchange

ABSTRACT: Alveolar formation increases the surface area for gas exchange. A molecular understanding of alveologenesis remains incomplete. Here, we show that the autonomic nerve and alveolar myofibroblast form a functional unit in mice. Myofibroblasts secrete neurotrophins to promote neurite extension/survival, whereas neurotransmitters released from autonomic terminals are necessary for myofibroblast proliferation and migration, a key step in alveologenesis. This establishes a functional link between autonomic innervation and alveolar formation. We also discover that planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling employs a Wnt-Fz/Ror-Vangl cascade to regulate the cytoskeleton and neurotransmitter trafficking/release from the terminals of autonomic nerves. This represents a new aspect of PCP signaling in conferring cellular properties. Together, these studies offer molecular insight into how autonomic activity controls alveolar formation. Our work also illustrates the fundamental principle of how two tissues (e.g., nerves and lungs) interact to build alveoli at the organismal level.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE189466 | GEO | 2022/06/16

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:This study aimed to quantify the regulation of transcripts in the hairy skin of the back of adult rats in the condition of loss of sensory and autonomic (sympathetic) innervation (i.e., denervated). Denervated skin has reduced wound healing capacity, reduced proliferation of epidermal progenitor cells, and also expresses factors that regulate ingrowth of sensory and sympathetic axons from neighboring regions of innervated skin. It was expected that this quantification f transcript regulation would offer insight into the general and specific mechanisms that may contribute to these important biological processes. All animals were adult (200-250g) Sprague-Dawley female rats. Three conditions were examined. Groups were naive (n=6), 7-day denervated skin (n=5), and 14-day (n=5) denervated skin. Denervation preparations: Full-thickness incision along long-axis of the body 1cm to right of midline (to avoid injuring skin to be sampled). Incision was centered rostro-caudally on the T13 (thoracic 13) costo-vertebral angle so as to allow access to the T9-L2 (lumbar 2) cutaneous nerves. Skin was reflected to the left and the left T9, T10, L1, and L2 dorsal and lateral cutaneous nerves were isolated, ligated with 7-0 monofilament suture close to their exit from the body wall, and transected. Approximately 5mm of the distal portion of the nerve was resected. The T11 nerves were left unperturbed and were not isolated from the surrounding fascia. This generated two strips of skin that were devoid of sensory and autonomic innervation (those strips served by the T9 and T10 nerves, and by the L1 and L2 nerves). Between these denervated strips of skin was a strip of skin that retained the sensory and autonomic axons supplied by T11 nerves. The denervated zones were identified by mapping the cutaneous trunk muscle (CTM) reflex (see Petruska-JC et al. (2013) Journal of Comparative Neurology; Diamond-J et al., (1992) J Neuroscience), and the border marked with pen and remarked every few days. The samples were taken from the rostral (T9/10) denervated zone. Samples from naive animals (no denervation) were taken from the same region, using the dorsal cutaneous nerves as registration landmarks. Animals displayed no signs of overgrooming of the denervated skin. Because the CTM inserts onto the dermis of this region of skin, samples necessarily include both skin and underlying CTM (which is innervated from another source so was not denervated in the experiment).

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A functional circuit formed by the autonomic nerves and myofibroblasts controls mammalian alveolar formation for gas exchange

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