Author response: Mechanical sensitivity of Piezo1 ion channels can be tuned by cellular membrane tension
Year: 2015
Type: peer-review
Abstract: Piezo ion channels are proteins that are embedded in the cell membranes of many types of tissue, including the heart, lung, skin and kidney. These proteins are essential for many biological processes, including sensing gentle touches and ensuring that blood vessels develop properly. When stimulated by mechanical forces, a central pore in the Piezo channel opens to allow positively charged ions to flow into the cell, which triggers electrical and chemical signaling processes inside the cell. However, it was not known exactly what type of mechanical stimulus is sensed by Piezo ion channels. Lewis and Grandl expressed Piezo ion channels in cultured human kidney cells, and opened them by applying pressure to parts of the cell membrane inside a glass pipette. This causes a number of changes to the membrane, including to its curvature and tension, either of which could potentially open the Piezo channels. However, Lewis and Grandl were able to calculate from images of the cell membrane inside the pipette that tension is the activating stimulus. Further experiments unexpectedly revealed that the tension that is usually present in the cell membrane is sufficient to inactivate Piezo channels and prevent them from responding to an additional mechanical stimulus. This suggests that Piezo ion channels are inherently more sensitive to tension than previously realized, which could explain why different cell types appear to have different sensitivities to pressure. Although Lewis and Grandl have now shown that Piezo channels are activated by tension, more work is needed to investigate how the Piezo ion channel senses this force, and how this leads to the channel pore opening.
Authors: Amanda H Lewis, Jörg Grandl
Institution: Duke Medical Center
Language: English
Subfield: Physiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W2986006241