β3-integrin is required for differentiation in OC-2 cells derived from mammalian embryonic inner ear

BMC Cell Biology

Research Article

Andrew Forge¹  Ivan Brunetta¹  Ian R Hart²  Louise E Reynolds²  Stefano O Casalotti³ 

[1] Centre for Auditory Research, UCL Ear Institute, University College London, WC1X 8EE, London, UK;Centre for Tumour Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, Charterhouse Square, EC1M 6BQ, London, UK;School of Health, Sport and Bioscience, University of East London, E15 4LZ, London, UK;

关键词: Integrin;    Hair Cell;    Corti;    Basilar Membrane;    Integrin Expression;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2121-13-5

 received in 2011-07-19, accepted in 2012-03-17,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe mammalian inner ear contains the organ of Corti which is responsible for the conversion of sound into neuronal signals. This specialised epithelial tissue is the product of a complex developmental process where a common precursor cell type differentiates into the sound transducing hair cells and the non-innervated supporting cells. We hypothesised that integrin proteins, which are involved in cell attachment to extracellular matrix proteins and cellular signalling, play a role in the differentiation process of the precursor inner ear epithelial cells. To test our hypothesis we have utilised a cell line (OC-2) derived from E13 embryonic immortomouse inner ears. In vitro, by switching the incubation temperature from 33°C to 39°C, the OC-2 cells can be induced to differentiate and express hair cells markers, such as Myosin VIIa. The OC-2 cells are thus a useful model system for testing mechanism of hair cells differentiation.ResultsWe have identified 4 integrin subunits which are expressed in OC-2 cells: α6, αv, β1 and β3. Among these, the relative level of expression of the αv, β1 and β3 subunits increased in a time dependent manner when the cells were exposed to the differentiating temperature of 39°C, most notably so for β3 which was not detectable at 33°C. Treatment of fully differentiated OC-2 cells with siRNA against the four integrin subunits reduced the expression of not only the respective integrin proteins but also of the hair cell marker Myosin VIIa. Conversely over-expression of β3 was sufficient to induce the expression of Myosin VIIa at 33°C.ConclusionsOur data demonstrate that modulation of integrin expression is associated with the differentiation process of the OC-2 cells. This suggests that the maturation of the organ of Corti, from where OC-2 cells are derived, may also depend on changes of gene expression associated with integrin expression.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Brunetta et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.