Tracking down brush cells: Only ten years ago, the function of these rare cells which have some kind of “sense of taste“ and can be found in the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract was largely unknown. In the past few years, a team led by DZL researcher Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kummer of the Institute for Anatomy at the Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU) has been able to shed some light on the darkness. As the most recent publication of the medical professionals in the medical journal “Immunity” shows, these chemosensory cells perform a vital task in the defense of bacterial pneumonia.
Brush cells, which are specialized in identifying potentially harmful substances, are able to detect small particles of bacterial proteins – for example from pneumococci – in inspired air. Subsequently, they release the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is otherwise primarily known from the nervous system. Acetylcholine affects neighboring cells with motile cilia, which then increase beating, thus ensuring the removal of bacteria – for instance through coughing or swallowing. This process which is referred to as “mucociliary clearance” is one of the most important defense mechanisms of the respiratory tract against germs. The research team has been able to demonstrate that mice whose brush cells are immotile have a higher susceptibility to lower respiratory tract infections.
The study was performed in association with the DFG-funded SFB-TR84 „Innate Immunity of the Lung” and in collaboration with the German Center for Lung Research.
Perniss A, Liu S, Boonen B, Keshavarz M, Ruppert AL, Timm T, Pfeil U, Soultanova A, Kusumakshi D, Delventhal L, Aydin Ö, Pyrski M, Deckmann K, Hain T, Schmidt N, Ewers C, Günther A, Lochnit G, Chubanov V, Gudermann T, Oberwinkler J, Klein J, Mikoshiba K, Leinders-Zufall T, Offermanns S, Schütz B, Boehm U, Zufall F, Bufe B, Kummer W.: Chemosensory cell-derived acetylcholine drives tracheal mucociliary clearance in response to virulence-associated formyl peptides. Immunity (Volume 52, Issue 4, 14 April 2020)
Source: JLU
