Lymphedema is a disease characterized by chronic edema of the afflicted tissue due to lymphatic insufficiency. Treatment for lymphedema is palliative and requires the use of compression bandages and manual lymph drainage to push fluid out of the afflicted tissue, which is normally accomplished by the intrinsic pumping activity of lymphatic collecting vessels (cLV). cLVs from lymphedema patients, however, display only irregular or absent pumping ability and therefore restoring this intrinsic pump activity is an ideal therapeutic goal. Currently the mechanisms that drive the pacemaking and initiation of cLV contraction have not been defined. My recent findings show that mouse, rat, and human lymphatic muscle cells (LMCs) exhibit a steady diastolic depolarization that determines contraction frequency, and is the basis of cLV pacemaking and autorhythmicity. In murine cLVs, this diastolic depolarization is pressure-dependent and is mediated by activation of a calcium activated chloride channel, Anoctamin1 (Ano1) during diastole. In other autorhythmic pacemaking cells, an intracellular sarcoendoplasmic reticulum (SR) calcium clock underlies electrical autorhythmicity through activation of calcium sensitive ion channels. Whether an SR calcium clock is present in LMCs or if SR calcium release through either inositol triphosphate receptors (Itprs) or ryanodine receptors (RyRs) regulates Ano1 and cLV pacemaking is unknown. This proposal seeks to test the hypothesis that a SR dependent calcium clock is critical for lymphatic muscle excitability and pressure dependent chronotropy, This proposal utilizes novel technical approaches to simultaneously monitor either cytosolic or SR calcium using genetically encoded calcium indicators, GCaMP6f and GCaMP1-ER respectively, while simultaneously recording membrane potential in LMCs of contracting murine cLVs from genetically modified mice.
Aim 1 will determine how intra- lymphatic pressure regulates the LMC SR calcium clock by determining the frequency, amplitude, duration, and spread of spontaneous SR calcium transients, and the dynamics of the luminal SR calcium concentration across a physiological pressure range. Additionally, the use of inducible smooth muscle knockouts of RyR2 and Itpr1 in addition to over-active and under-active knock-in mutations in Itpr1 and RyR2 will elucidate the functional contribution of RyR2 and Itpr1 to the subcellular calcium transients observed during diastole.
Aim2 will utilize freshly dispersed LMCs from these genetic models to perform simultaneous cytosolic calcium imaging and perforated patch clamp to determine the discrete electrical contribution of calcium release from either Itpr1 or RyR2 channels through coupling with Ano1 or other calcium sensitive membrane channels. These findings will provide critical knowledge regarding how a pharmaceutical strategy targeting the mechanisms underlying SR calcium dynamics could activate lymphatic pacemaking and improve lymphatic function in patients.
Lymphedema is a progressive and debilitating disease that afflicts over 5 million Americans and is characterized by progressive and incurable swelling of the afflicted tissue as a result lymphatic insufficiency. While it has been demonstrated that lymphedema patients have nonexistent or irregular lymphatic pumping behavior the lack of information of the basic mechanisms that drive lymphatic contractions underlies the absence of effective pharmaceutical interventions. This proposal will detail the how calcium release from either Ryr2 or Itpr1 regulate calcium sensitive membrane channels to initiate a lymphatic action potential and regulate the lymphatic pacemaking.
