Olfactory Ensheathing Cells Express ?7 Integrin to Mediate Their Migration on Laminin.

ABSTRACT: The unique glia located in the olfactory system, called olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs), are implicated as an attractive choice for transplantation therapy following spinal cord injury because of their pro-regenerative characteristics. Adult OECs are thought to improve functional recovery and regeneration after injury by secreting neurotrophic factors and making cell-to-cell contacts with regenerating processes, but the mechanisms are not well understood. We show first that ?7 integrin, a laminin receptor, is highly expressed at the protein level by OECs throughout the olfactory system, i.e., in the olfactory mucosa, olfactory nerve, and olfactory nerve layer of the olfactory bulb. Then we asked if OECs use the ?7 integrin receptor directly to promote neurite outgrowth on permissive and neutral substrates, in vitro. We co-cultured ?7+/+ and ?7lacZ/lacZ postnatal cerebral cortical neurons with ?7+/+ or ?7lacZ/lacZ OECs and found that genotype did not effect the ability of OECs to enhance neurite outgrowth by direct contact. Loss of ?7 integrin did however significantly decrease the motility of adult OECs in transwell experiments. Twice as many ?7+/+ OECs migrated through laminin-coated transwells compared to ?7+/+ OECs on poly-L-lysine (PLL). This is in contrast to ?7lacZ/lacZ OECs, which showed no migratory preference for laminin substrate over PLL. These results demonstrate that OECs express ?7 integrin, and that laminin and its ?7 integrin receptor contribute to adult OEC migration in vitro and perhaps also in vivo.

SUBMITTER: Ingram NT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4831794 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature