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Inflammatory diseases of the upper respiratory tract are characterized by flow of plasma filtrate across the epithelium into the airway lumen (“transudation”). Elsewhere, we have proposed that extravasation from microvessels causes edema, and this is associated with elevated subepithelial hydrostatic pressure that drives transudation. To test this hypothesis, we have attempted to block transudation by elevating luminal hydrostatic pressure. We measured the appearance of plasma markers into the lumen of an isolated perfused segment of rat trachea in vivo and found that stimulation of one vagal nerve caused a rapid (half-time ∼5 min) and nonselective increase in the flow of markers from blood to airway lumen. Leukocyte migration also caused transudation that developed much more slowly (half-time = 2–3 h). In both cases, transudation was blocked by application of luminal hydrostatic pressures. The critical luminal pressure needed to block vagally induced transudation was ∼4.5 cmH2O, and, to block epithelial transudation induced by leukocyte traffic, it was 3 cmH2O, and we conclude that these are the subepithelial pressures that drive inflammatory transudation into the airway lumen.

We describe a simple hyposmotic shock procedure whereby the apical membrane of airway epithelium can be made transiently leaky to proteins and other macromolecules. Bovine or human tracheal epithelial cells were grown as confluent polarized cell sheets on porous inserts. While physiological saline was maintained on the basolateral surface, the mucosal surface was exposed to water. This led to marked increases in the uptake of [14C]mannitol across both apical and basolateral membranes. On restoring saline to the mucosal surface, the [14C]mannitol permeability returned to preexposure levels with a half-life of approximately 5 min. Mucosal water also increased efflux of lactate dehydrogenase and the uptakes of fluorescent albumin and dextran (2,000 kDa). Water-induced increases in mannitol permeability were similar at 4 and 37 degrees C, suggesting that pinocytosis was not the mechanism. Detailed time courses of the uptake of dextran and the loss of lactate dehydrogenase and 36Cl showed that the bulk of the permeability increase occurred during the first 2- to 4-min exposure to water. Transepithelial resistance was reversibly decreased by exposure to water, but short-circuit current responses to transport blockers and secretagogues remained qualitatively normal. The hyposmotic shock procedure also successfully permeabilized apical membranes of primary cultures of nasal epithelial cells from a patient with cystic fibrosis (CF) and of JME/CF 15 cells, a cell line derived from CF bronchial epithelium. This simple and efficient procedure may prove useful in studies on the cell and molecular biology of airway and other epithelia.

This paper describes a method for measuring the increase in halide permeability of isolated airway epithelial cells induced by adenosine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP). Suspensions of isolated cells, known to contain the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), were placed in the upper part of a Swinnex filter holder containing a filter with pores of 0.65 micron diameter. Medium was perfused over the cells at room temperature and collected at minute intervals following its passage through the filter. Experiments were performed on Calu-3 and T84 cells (human lung and colonic epithelial cell lines), primary cultures of dog and human tracheal epithelium, and Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts stably transfected with CFTR. In all cell types, addition of agents that elevate cAMP led to increases in the rates of loss of 36Cl and 125I. However, in human tracheal epithelial cells, warming the medium from room temperature to 37 degrees C was a more effective way of stimulating tracer efflux. Increases in efflux in response to either temperature or cAMP-elevating agents were inhibited by diphenylamine-2-carboxylate, a blocker of CFTR. Reproducible increases in tracer efflux were seen with as few as 10(6) cells. Cells that had been trypsinized off their culture dishes responded better than cells that had been scraped off, although treatment of scraped cells with trypsin enhanced their responsiveness to cAMP-elevating agents. Cystic fibrosis is characterized by the lack of a cAMP-activated Cl conductance in the apical membrane of airway epithlia.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Dispersed isolated cells were obtained from human tracheal mucosa by digestion with collagenase. Up to 1.5 X 10(8) cells were obtained per trachea and showed up to 95% viability, as judged by trypan blue exclusion. When grown in culture, the cells formed monolayers after approximately 4 days. Electron microscopy of the monolayers revealed a polarized structure. An apical membrane, containing microvilli and a pronounced glycocalyx, was separated from a relatively unspecialized basolateral membrane by typical tight junctions. Monolayers grown on nucleopore filters showed resistances of 44–1,800 omega. cm2 and transepithelial potential differences of 0.1–7.6 mV. Short-circuit current (Isc) was increased by isoproterenol, prostaglandins E2 and F2 alpha, and bradykinin. The loop diuretic, bumetanide, reduced Isc when added to the basolateral (serosal) side but had no effect from the apical (mucosal) side of the monolayers. Furosemide and MK-196 also inhibited Isc. Mucosal amiloride inhibited Isc. Serosal amiloride or mucosal ouabain had no effect on Isc. Serosal ouabain brought Isc to zero after approximately 15 min.

Under short-circuit conditions, vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) did not alter net Na+ movement but selectively stimulated net Cl- secretion across dog tracheal epithelium with a high affinity (Km congruent to 10(-8) M). The increase in Cl- secretion was not different from the rise in short-circuit current (Isc). However, stimulation of Cl- secretion was not maximal, because the addition of isoproterenol (10(-6) M) to VIP-treated tissues further increased the Isc by 54%. The effect of exogenous VIP was not blocked by a combination of atropine, phentolamine, propranolol (10(-5) or 10(-6) M), or tetrodotoxin (10(-6) M). Under open-circuit conditions, VIP caused an increase in the net secretion of Cl- and Na+, but the changes did not reach statistical significance. We conclude that VIP acts directly on receptors on the surface of epithelial cells to stimulate active Cl- secretion. The abundance of VIP nerves in the submucosa suggests that VIP may be important in regulation of fluid movement across the epithelium.