Wimolrat Puwarawuttipanit. Syntrophin binding to aquaporin-4 water channel protein and potassium channel (Kir 4.1 subunit) : role in water homeostasis in mice retina. Doctoral Degree(Neurosciences). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2009-07-09.
Syntrophin binding to aquaporin-4 water channel protein and potassium channel (Kir 4.1 subunit) : role in water homeostasis in mice retina
Abstract:
Aquaporin-4 water channel (AQP4) and the inward rectifying potassium
channel Kir4.1 are co-expressed in a highly polarized manner at the perivascular and
vitreal endfeet of the retinal Müller cells. The anchoring mechanisms responsible for
their expression at the Müller cell endfeet are unknown. Both AQP4 and Kir4.1
contain PDZ-domain binding motifs at their C-terminals, making them able to
interact with the PDZ domain containing proteins present at these membrane
domains. Syntrophin are PDZ-domain containing scaffold proteins attached to the
dystrophin complex which is present in the Müller cells. Study of mice with targeted
disruption of the dystrophin gene (mdx mice) shows impaired clustering of AQP4
and Kir4.1 at the Müller cell endfeet. The expression of AQP4 at perivascular
astrocyte endfeet in the brain depends on a-syntrophin. Moreover, recent
biochemical studies have shown an association between Kir4.1 and a-syntrophin
pointing at a-syntrophin as the main candidate for anchoring of AQP4 and Kir4.1 in
the retina. To test this hypothesis, we studied the distribution of these molecules in
a-syntrophin null mice retina using quantitative immunogold cytochemistry. Our
data showed only a partial removal (by 60%) of AQP4 labeling at the Müller cell
endfeet following a-syntrophin deletion, while the Kir4.1 labeling at the
perivascular or subvitreal Müller cell endfeet was not significantly affected. These
findings suggest that, unlike the situation in the brain, a-syntrophin in retina is only
partly responsible for the polarized expression of AQP4 at the Müller cell endfeet,
and that Kir4.1 expression at these sites does not depend on a-syntrophin.
Furthermore, our data also revealed strong b1 syntrophin labeling at the perivascular
and subvitreal of Müller cell endfeet of the wild type as well as a-syntrophin null
mice, suggesting that this molecule might contribute to anchoring of Kir4.1 and
AQP4 in retina.