ATP release through connexin hemichannels and gap junction transfer of second messengers propagate Ca2+ signals across the inner ear

Item Type:	Article
Title:	ATP release through connexin hemichannels and gap junction transfer of second messengers propagate Ca2+ signals across the inner ear
Creators Name:	Anselmi, F. and Hernandez, V.H. and Crispino, G. and Seydel, A. and Ortolano, S. and Roper, S.D. and Kessaris, N. and Richardson, W. and Rickheit, G. and Filippov, M.A. and Monyer, H. and Mammano, F.
Abstract:	Extracellular ATP controls various signaling systems including propagation of intercellular Ca(2+) signals (ICS). Connexin hemichannels, P2x7 receptors (P2x7Rs), pannexin channels, anion channels, vesicles, and transporters are putative conduits for ATP release, but their involvement in ICS remains controversial. We investigated ICS in cochlear organotypic cultures, in which ATP acts as an IP(3)-generating agonist and evokes Ca(2+) responses that have been linked to noise-induced hearing loss and development of hair cell-afferent synapses. Focal delivery of ATP or photostimulation with caged IP(3) elicited Ca(2+) responses that spread radially to several orders of unstimulated cells. Furthermore, we recorded robust Ca(2+) signals from an ATP biosensor apposed to supporting cells outside the photostimulated area in WT cultures. ICS propagated normally in cultures lacking either P2x7R or pannexin-1 (Px1), as well as in WT cultures exposed to blockers of anion channels. By contrast, Ca(2+) responses failed to propagate in cultures with defective expression of connexin 26 (Cx26) or Cx30. A companion paper demonstrates that, if expression of either Cx26 or Cx30 is blocked, expression of the other is markedly down-regulated in the outer sulcus. Lanthanum, a connexin hemichannel blocker that does not affect gap junction (GJ) channels when applied extracellularly, limited the propagation of Ca(2+) responses to cells adjacent to the photostimulated area. Our results demonstrate that these connexins play a dual crucial role in inner ear Ca(2+) signaling: as hemichannels, they promote ATP release, sustaining long-range ICS propagation; as GJ channels, they allow diffusion of Ca(2+)-mobilizing second messengers across coupled cells.
Keywords:	Deafness, Mouse Models, P2x7 Receptor, Pannexin, Biosensor Cells, Animals, Mice
Source:	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
ISSN:	0027-8424
Publisher:	National Academy of Sciences
Volume:	105
Number:	48
Page Range:	18770-18775
Date:	2 December 2008
Official Publication:	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0800793105
PubMed:	View item in PubMed

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