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The gallbladder stores bile between meals and empties into the duodenum upon demand and is thereby exposed to the intestinal microbiome. This exposure raises the need for antimicrobial factors, among them, mucins produced by cholangiocytes, the dominant epithelial cell type in the gallbladder. The role of the much less frequent biliary tuft cells is still unknown. We here show that propionate, a major metabolite of intestinal bacteria, activates tuft cells via the short-chain free fatty acid receptor 2 and downstream signaling involving the cation channel transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily M member 5. This results in corelease of acetylcholine and cysteinyl leukotrienes from tuft cells and evokes synergistic paracrine effects upon the epithelium and the gallbladder smooth muscle, respectively. Acetylcholine triggers mucin release from cholangiocytes, an epithelial defense mechanism, through the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor M3. Cysteinyl leukotrienes cause gallbladder contraction through their cognate receptor CysLTR1, prompting emptying and closing. Our results establish gallbladder tuft cells as sensors of the microbial metabolite propionate, initiating dichotomous innate defense mechanisms through simultaneous release of acetylcholine and cysteinyl leukotrienes.

Neutrophils provide first line of host defense against bacterial infections utilizing glycolysis for their effector functions. How glycolysis and its major byproduct lactate are triggered in bone marrow (BM) neutrophils and their contribution to neutrophil mobilization in acute inflammation is not clear. Here we report that bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) or Salmonella Typhimurium triggers lactate release by increasing glycolysis, NADPH-oxidase-mediated reactive oxygen species and HIF-1α levels in BM neutrophils. Increased release of BM lactate preferentially promotes neutrophil mobilization by reducing endothelial VE-Cadherin expression, increasing BM vascular permeability via endothelial lactate-receptor GPR81 signaling. GPR81−/− mice mobilize reduced levels of neutrophils in response to LPS, unless rescued by VE-Cadherin disrupting antibodies. Lactate administration also induces release of the BM neutrophil mobilizers G-CSF, CXCL1 and CXCL2, indicating that this metabolite drives neutrophil mobilization via multiple pathways. Our study reveals a metabolic crosstalk between lactate-producing neutrophils and BM endothelium, which controls neutrophil mobilization under bacterial infection., Lactate is a by-product of glycolysis that can function via its G protein receptor GPR81. Here the authors show that LPS or Salmonella infection enhances glycolytic metabolism in bone marrow neutrophils, resulting in lactate production, which increases endothelial barrier permeability and mobilization of these neutrophils by targeting endothelial GPR81.

The long-chain fatty acid receptor FFAR1 is highly expressed in pancreatic β-cells. Synthetic FFAR1 agonists can be used as antidiabetic drugs to promote glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS). However, the physiological role of FFAR1 in β-cells remains poorly understood. Here we show that 20-HETE activates FFAR1 and promotes GSIS via FFAR1 with higher potency and efficacy than dietary fatty acids such as palmitic, linoleic, and α-linolenic acid. Murine and human β-cells produce 20-HETE, and the ω-hydroxylase-mediated formation and release of 20-HETE is strongly stimulated by glucose. Pharmacological inhibition of 20-HETE formation and blockade of FFAR1 in islets inhibits GSIS. In islets from type-2 diabetic humans and mice, glucose-stimulated 20-HETE formation and 20-HETE-dependent stimulation of GSIS are strongly reduced. We show that 20-HETE is an FFAR1 agonist, which functions as an autocrine positive feed-forward regulator of GSIS, and that a reduced glucose-induced 20-HETE formation contributes to inefficient GSIS in type-2 diabetes.