Premium
Maturation of the human bronchial epithelial cell (HBEC) layer causes a jamming transition, but compression of the layer, as in bronchospasm, causes unjamming
Author(s) -
Park JinAh,
Mitchel Jennifer,
Qazvini Nader,
Kim Jae Hun,
Bi Dapeng,
Park Chan Young,
Butler James,
Randell Scott,
Shore Stephanie,
Manning M Lisa,
Drazen Jeffrey,
Fredberg Jeffrey
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.671.1
Subject(s) - bronchospasm , vimentin , jamming , transition (genetics) , adherens junction , cell , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , medicine , immunology , asthma , biology , immunohistochemistry , physics , biochemistry , condensed matter physics , cadherin , gene
In asthma, bronchospasm is one of major characteristics. In HBE cells in air‐liquid interface (ALI) culture, compressive stress, as in bronchospasm, induces airway remodeling. Here, we investigated the physical behavior of HBE cells from normal or asthmatic donors in ALI culture. To determine an existence of jamming phase, we captured time‐lapse images of HBE cells. As days progress in ALI culture, a phase transition occurred from a mobile, unjammed phase to a quiescent, jammed phase; days 6‐8 in normal vs. delayed until day 14 in asthmatic cells (Fig 1). In cell lysates, the existence of vimentin was temporally well correlated with the onset of the jamming transition. In asthmatic cells during ALI days, treatment with SB431542, a TGF receptor inhibitor, promoted a jamming transition and disappearance of vimentin. Compression caused the unjamming transition of jammed cells (Fig 2), but pretreatment with SB431542 attenuated the compression‐induced unjamming transition. Along with the unjamming transition, compression induced Hic‐5, a LIM protein. Taken together, maturation of the HBEC layer causes a jamming transition, but compression of the layer, as in bronchospasm, causes unjamming. Importantly, TGFbeta controls this jamming transition along with vimentin and Hic‐5 expression. Our findings suggest that the jamming‐unjamming phase transition is a novel physical feature that captures injury‐repair process and differentiates normal from asthmatic cells.