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The Journal of Immunology, 2001, 166: 1009-1015.
Copyright © 2001 by The American Association of Immunologists

New Insights Into Endotoxin-Induced Activation of Macrophages: Involvement of a K+ Channel in Transmembrane Signaling1

Rikard Blunck, Olaf Scheel, Mareike Müller, Klaus Brandenburg, Ulrike Seitzer and Ulrich Seydel2

Research Center Borstel, Center for Medicine and Biosciences, Borstel, Germany


    Abstract
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results and Discussion
 References
 
LPS (endotoxins) activate cells of the human immune system, among which are monocytes and macrophages, to produce endogenous mediators. These regulate the immune response, but may also cause severe harm leading to septic shock. The activation of monocytes/macrophages by LPS is mediated by a membrane-bound LPS receptor, mCD14. As mCD14 lacks a transmembrane domain, a further protein is required for the signal transducing step to the cell interior. Here we show, using excised outside-out membrane patches, that activation of a high-conductance Ca2+- and voltage-dependent potassium channel is an early step in the transmembrane signal transduction in macrophages. The channel is activated by endotoxically active LPS in a dose-dependent manner. Channel activation can be completely inhibited by LPS antagonists and by anti-CD14 Abs. Activation of the channel is essential for LPS-induced cytokine production as shown by its inhibition by selective K+ channel blockers.


    Introduction
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results and Discussion
 References
 
Lipopolysaccharides, the endotoxins of Gram-negative bacteria, are known to constitute amphiphilic macromolecules located on the outer leaflet of their outer membrane (1, 2). Released from the bacterial surface or in isolated form, LPS evokes an overwhelming spectrum of biological activities when administered to animals or humans or in vitro. In the interaction with monocytes/macrophages they induce a variety of intracellular signaling cascades, finally leading to the release of endogenous mediators such as TNF-{alpha}, IL-1{beta}, and IL-6.

Chemically, LPS consist of a hydrophilic heteropolysaccharide that is covalently linked to a hydrophobic lipid portion, called lipid A, which anchors the molecule to the membrane. It has been shown that lipid A harbors the "endotoxic principle" of LPS (2) and that a peculiar molecular conformation ("endotoxic conformation") of lipid A is a prerequisiste for its endotoxic activity (3). The primary chemical structure of lipid A defines its molecular conformation, which may, in its extremes, be either conical, with the cross-section of the hydrophilic backbone being smaller than that of the hydrophobic moiety, or cylindrical with identical cross-sections. Thus, lipid A of the endotoxically most active LPS from Escherichia coli, which consists of a {beta}1,6-linked D-glucosamine disaccharide carrying six saturated fatty acids and two negatively charged phosphates at defined locations (2, 4), has a conical conformation (3). Variations of this structural arrangement, such as a reduction in the number of charges or the number of acyl chains, a change in their distribution, or degree of saturation, results in a dramatic reduction in biological activity (5) and a transition from a conical to a cylindrical conformation.

Binding of LPS to membrane-bound CD14 (mCD14),3 an LPS receptor, is one of the first steps in the activation of monocytes/macrophages (6). However, for two reasons mCD14 cannot be the protein initiating the intracellular signaling: 1) mCD14 lacks a transmembrane domain and 2) at higher LPS concentrations activation can be achieved also after blockade of mCD14 by anti-CD14 Abs or in the absence of CD14 (7).

From previous studies it is known that the LPS-binding protein LBP, an acute-phase serum protein, forms complexes with the LPS molecules and transports these directly into the host cell membrane (8) or to mCD14 (6), which is known to be a coreceptor for the signaling protein. Because it has been shown that the soluble form of CD14 (sCD14) transports endotoxin molecules directly into phospholipid membranes (9), it is reasonable to assume that mCD14 operates in a similar manner.

From our findings of a correlation between the molecular conformation of lipid A and its ability to induce cytokine production in mononuclear cells, some characteristics of the signaling protein can be defined: 1) it should be accessible to modulations via its outermost transmembrane domain (binding site in the membrane) and 2) it should be sensitive to mechanical deformation (i.e., by the endotoxically active conformation of lipid A). These characteristics are fulfilled by ion channels, in particular by a mechanosensitive channel as found by Martin et al. in macrophages (10).

It has previously been shown that K+ channels are involved in the LPS-induced activation of monocytes, macrophages (11, 12, 13, 14, 15), and endothelial cells (16). Most of these authors (11, 12, 14), using nonselective K+ channel blockers, have provided evidence for a regulatory activity of K+ channels for posttransscriptional processes. In particular, Walev et al. (12) have demonstrated in comprehensive experiments using K+-rich and K+-depleted media as well as K+ channel blockers that K+ efflux plays an important role in LPS-stimulated IL-1{beta} synthesis in monocytes. As the authors claim, this was the first example for the control of a proteolytic process by the major intracellular ion. Maruyama et al. (13) and Hoang et al. (16) have already suggested the involvement of Ca2+-sensitive K+ channels in LPS signaling. McKinney and Gallin (15), by measuring the whole-cell inwardly rectifying K+ current in murine macrophage J774.1 cells, have shown that LPS treatment changes the density of inwardly rectifying K+ channels.

From these findings and considering that a most important requirement for signaling, the involvement of energy, would obviously be fulfilled by an ion channel, we have proposed that the modulation of a K+ channel by the lipid A moiety of LPS, depending on its shape, is one initial transmembrane step in LPS signaling.

In this paper, using excised outside-out membrane patches, we provide strong experimental evidence that a high-conductance Ca2+- and voltage-dependent K+ channel is involved in transmembrane signal transduction in macrophages as an early step and that the modulation of the channel by endotoxin is strongly sensitive to the conformation of lipid A.


    Materials and Methods
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results and Discussion
 References
 
Reagents

Quinine, lidocaine, tetraethylammonium (TEA), charybdotoxin, iberiotoxin, and paxilline were obtained from Sigma (Deisenhofen, Germany); chlorpromazine (CPZ) was obtained from Fluka (Deisenhofen, Germany).

The anti-CD14 Ab MEM18 (IgG 1) was a kind gift of V. Horejshi (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic).

Endotoxins

S-form LPS from the wild-type strain Salmonella enterica sv. Minnesota, which expresses the complete core sugar and O-chain polysaccharide, was obtained from phenol-killed bacteria by phenol/water extraction. Re LPS from the deep rough mutant of S. enterica sv. Minnesota strain R595, which is the LPS with only two sugars attached to lipid A, was extracted according to the phenol/chloroform/petrolether procedure. The LPS preparations were lyophilized and used in the natural salt form. Lipid A was isolated from deep rough mutant LPS from E. coli strain F515 by acetate buffer treatment (0.1 M, 100°C for 1–3 h). This lipid A contains two major subspecies, a hexaacyl and a pentaacyl fraction. These were separated by preparative TLC (kindly performed by U. Zähringer, Research Center Borstel, Germany), purified, and subsequently converted to the triethylammonium salt forms. Synthetic tetraacyl lipid A (compound) 406 was a kind gift of Shoichi Kusumoto (University of Osaka, Japan).

Electrophysiology

The patch-clamp experiments were performed at room temperature in the outside-out excised-patch configuration (17). Patch pipettes were made from borosilicate glass (Hilgenberg, Malsfeld, Germany) and had resistances of (5.6 ± 1.1) M{Omega} (n = 32). The bathing solution in the patch-clamp experiments was HBSS ([K+] = 5.8 mM, [Ca2+] = 1 mM) (Biochrom, Berlin, Germany). LPS was dissolved in pyrogen-free H2O in a stock solution (1 mg/ml) and diluted in HBSS. In all experiments, LPS was added to the bathing solution at least 5 min before measurement. The pipette solution contained 140 mM KCl, 1.2 mM MgCl2, 10 mM HEPES, 0.97 mM CaCl2, 1.92 mM EGTA; pH was adjusted with KOH to 7.2. For the determination of the Ca2+-dependence of the channel, the concentration of free Ca2+ was adjusted with different concentrations of CaCl2 and EGTA and controlled photometrically using the Ca2+-sensitive dye fura-2. K+ current was amplified with a patch-clamp amplifier (LM-PC/A; List-Electronic, Darmstadt, Germany), filtered with an 8-pole Bessel-filter (Frequency Devices, Haverhill, MA) (10/20/50 kHz), and digitized with a 12-bit analog digital converter (Dalanco Spry Model 250; Dalanco, Rochester, NY); sample frequency was 100 kHz, and recording time was 6 or 12 s. The software applied for recording and further evaluation of the time series was "sample250" and "day+night" (Division of Biophysics, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany). The open probability, defined as the probability to find one specific channel in an open state at a certain time t, was calculated from the ratios p(k) of the total occupancies of the several levels k to the recorded time (18):

where N is the total number of channels; k is the number of open channels in level k; p(k) is the relative time in level k; popen is the open probability; and pclosed is the closed probability = 1 - popen.

Open probability is normalized to the maximum number of channels visible in one patch under any of the applied experimental conditions. Experiments were done at least in triplicate, and in the respective figures the results are depicted from one representative experiment.

Cell culture

Monocytes were isolated from human peripheral blood by the Hypaque-Ficoll gradient method and stored in RPMI 1640 medium (endotoxin <= 0.01 EU/ml; Biochrom, Berlin, Germany) plus 2% penicillin/streptomycin/glutamine plus 4% human serum (blood group AB, heat inactivated) at 37°C and 6% CO2. For dividing the lymphocytes from the monocytes, all nonadherent cells were removed after 2 h. M-CSF (2 ng/ml) was added to the medium for 7 days to differentiate the monocytes to macrophages (19). The cells were used for electrophysiological experiments on days 6–9. To determine the cytokine-inducing capacity of LPS and its inhibition by various channel blockers, human mononuclear cells and macrophages were stimulated by adding LPS and the blockers in the concentrations mentioned below and subsequently incubated for 4 h. TNF-{alpha} production was determined in the supernatant using the ELISA technique; cytokine-mRNA production was determined by the RT-PCR technique. Viability was found to be >96% applying the trypan blue method.

TNF-{alpha} ELISA

Supernatants were collected after centrifugation of the culture plates for 10 min at 400 x g and stored at -20°C until determination of cytokine content. TNF-{alpha} in the cell supernatant was determined in a sandwich ELISA as described elsewhere (20). Ninety-six-well plates (Greiner, Solingen, Germany) were coated with a mAb against TNF-{alpha} (clone 6b from Intex AG, Muttent, Switzerland). Cell culture supernatants and the standard (rTNF-{alpha}; Intex) were diluted with buffer. After exposure to appropriately diluted test samples and serial dilutions of standard rTNF-{alpha}, the plates were exposed to peroxidate-conjugated rabbit anti-rTNF-{alpha} Ab. The plates were shaken 16–24 h at 4°C. For removal of free Ab, the plates were washed six times in distilled water. Subsequently, the color reaction was started by addition of tetramethylbenzidine/H2O2 in alcoholic solution and after 5–15 min stopped by the addition of 1 M sulfuric acid. In the color reaction, the substrate is cleaved enzymatically, and the product can be measured photometrically. This was done on an ELISA reader (Rainbow; Tecan, Crailsheim, Germany) at a wavelength of 450 nm, and the values were related to the standard. TNF-{alpha} was determined in duplicate at two different dilutions, and the values were averaged.

PCR experiments

After incubation, cells were washed in PBS, centrifuged (400 x g, 5 min), and the pellets were frozen at -70°C until further analysis. The mRNA of 5 x 105 cells/assay was isolated using oligo(dT)-coated magnetic beads (Dynal, Hamburg, Germany) according to the manufacturer. Reverse transcription was performed in a reaction mix containing 1 mM oligo(dT)20 primers, 10 mM dNTP (Pharmacia, Freiburg, Germany), 10 mM DTT (Life Technologies, Karlsruhe, Germany), 10 U RNAGuard (Pharmacia), and 200 U Superscript (Life Technologies) at 37°C for 1 h. PCR was conducted using the following gene-specific intron-spanning primers at the specified annealing temperatures: {beta}-actin (sense, 5'-AGC GGG AAA TCG TGC GTG; antisense, 5'-CAG GGT ACA TGG TGG TGC C; 55°C), IL-6 (sense, 5'-CTT TTG GAG TTT GAG GTA TAC CTA G; antisense, 5'-GCT GCG CAG AAT GAG ATG AGT TGT C; 52°C), TNF-{alpha} (sense, 5'-GAG TGA CAA GCC TGT AGC; antisense, 5'-CCC TTC TCC AGC TGG AAG; 55°C). The reaction mixture contained 1.5 ml of the cDNA preparation, 20 mM sense and antisense primers, 10 mM dNTPs (Pharmacia), and 1.25 U Taq Polymerase (Life Technologies) in a final volume of 50 ml. DNA fragments were analyzed in a 2% agarose gel electrophoresis.

Small-angle x-ray diffraction

Small-angle x-ray diffraction measurements for the determination of the aggregate structure of pentaacyl lipid A in the absence and presence of chlorpromazine were performed at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory outstation at the synchrotron radiation facility HASYLAB (c/o Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron, Hamburg, Germany). The lipid A samples were prepared in 85% HEPES buffer (20 mM), incubated at 50°C, vortexed, and recooled to 4°C. This temperature cycle was repeated twice, and the samples were stored at 4°C 24 h before measurement. From the aggregate structures, the conformation of the individual molecules was inferred: cylindrical in the case of lamellar structures (the cross-sections of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties are identical) and conical/concave in the case of inverted cubic and HII structures (the cross-section of the hydrophobic is larger than that of the hydrophilic portion) (3).


    Results and Discussion
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results and Discussion
 References
 
To provide experimental evidence for the involvement of an ion channel in LPS-induced signal transduction, we have performed patch-clamp experiments on human macrophages derived from peripheral blood monocytes (HMDM). To exclude the possibility that any endotoxin-induced signal results from subsequent signaling cascades, we have used the excised outside-out configuration for these experiments. This way, any signal would result directly from membrane-mediated events. Starting with patches from freshly isolated monocytes, we found only a very low number of K+ channels; however, during the differentiation of monocytes to macrophages, the number of expressed K+ channels increased significantly. Two different types of K+ channels could be observed. A high-conductance (apamin-insensitive) channel occurred regularly, whereas a small-conductance (apamin-sensitive) channel did not. The average number of high-conductance channels increased from below 1 per patch ({approx}1 µm2, n = 10/day) on days 1–3 to ~2.5 on day 5. We focused our experiments on the high-conductance channel (210 pS in symmetrical 140 mM K+). It was characterized to be calcium- and voltage-dependent, which can be taken from the left shift of the open probability with increasing Ca2+ concentration and from its increase with increasing voltage, respectively (Fig. 1Go). It was further characterized to be sensitive to quinine (100 µM) and paxilline (5 µM). These properties are indicative of a MaxiK channel (21, 22) Surprisingly, however, the channel was only sensitive to very high concentrations of charybdotoxin and iberiotoxin (<=50 nM). This behavior may be explained by the type of {beta} subunit present in the MaxiK channel in macrophages, which can modulate the affinity of these compounds to the MaxiK channel (23, 24) The complete characterization of the {beta} subunit will be subject of further work. Here, we used paxilline as a channel blocker, which is known to be selective for MaxiK channels independent of the {beta} subunit (25).



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FIGURE 1. Open probability of the high-conductance potassium ion channel in dependence on the applied voltage and the cytosolic concentration of free Ca2+. Data represent the average of at least three independent experiments for each concentration (except for 1.7 x 10-6 M) and are fitted with a sigmoidal function.

 
The presence of endotoxins up to concentrations of 200 ng/ml on the outside had no influence on the single-channel conductance, which was concluded from the observation that the current-voltage curves derived from single-channel recordings at different endotoxin concentrations were superimposed. This was found to be true for wild-type (S-form) LPS from S. enterica sv. Minnesota, deep rough mutant Re LPS from S. enterica sv. Minnesota strain R595, tetraacyl lipid A (precursor Ia, synthetic compound 406), and pentaacyl lipid A from E. coli. However, the current traces showed characteristic differences in the presence of endotoxically active LPS (e.g. Re LPS) as compared with the control (Fig. 2Go, a and b), and the value of the membrane potential, at which first events could be observed, was decreased. From these results it can be concluded that endotoxin leads to a considerable increase of channel activity at a given membrane potential. However, this increase of channel activity does not affect the single-channel conductance, but can be quantified by calculating the open probability of the channel. Thus, the open probability showed a dose-dependent increase upon the addition of Re LPS to the outside of the membrane in physiological concentrations (2–20 ng/ml) (Fig. 3Goa).



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FIGURE 2. Current traces from the MaxiK channel in an outside-out membrane patch of a macrophage. The traces were obtained for 500 ms at 60 mV (left) and 80 mV (right), respectively. a, Control; b, plus 20 ng/ml Re LPS; c, plus 200 ng/ml compound 406; d, plus 200 ng/ml compound 406 and 20 ng/ml Re LPS.

 


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FIGURE 3. Open probability of the MaxiK channel in outside-out configuration in dependence on the applied voltage. Open probability is normalized to the maximum number of channels visible in one patch under any of the applied experimental conditions. a, Dependence of open probability on Re LPS concentration; b, blocking of LPS-induced activation by 10 µM of the anti-CD14 Ab MEM 18. Curves represent the results from one representative of at least three independent experiments.

 
The endotoxically inactive compound 406, which is known to antagonize endotoxin activity (26), did not activate the channel even at high concentrations (100–200 ng/ml) (Fig. 2Goc). Furthermore, the increase of the open probability following the addition of Re LPS (10 ng/ml) could be inhibited by compound 406 (Fig. 2God), showing the direct inhibition of the LPS-induced activation of the signal transducer by an endotoxin antagonist. Compound 406 was applied here in a 10-fold higher concentration merely to make its antagonizing activity more obvious (27).

The distinction between agonists and antagonists has to take place at the signaling protein, because Delude et al. (28) have already ruled out CD14 for this function. To investigate a possible CD14 dependence of channel activation, CD14 was blocked by a monoclonal anti-CD14 Ab (MEM18) inhibiting binding of LPS to CD14 at a concentration of 10 µg/ml (29). This led to inhibition of channel activation by Re LPS (20–40 ng/ml) (Fig. 3Gob), clearly demonstrating the upstream involvement of CD14 in channel activation in accordance to the proposed role of CD14 in the activation process by endotoxin (6, 30).

Based on results from the literature showing that potassium channel blockers can inhibit macrophage activation (12, 13), we verified the physiological relevance of our findings by incubating HMDM with various specific or nonspecific channel blockers and subsequently determining LPS-induced TNF-{alpha} and IL-6 production. We found a clear correlation between the sensitivity of the channel to the various agents and their ability to inhibit LPS-induced TNF-{alpha} and IL-6 production. In particular, the MaxiK-selective blocker paxilline inhibited cytokine production, whereas apamin as a blocker of small-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels (31) neither blocked the channel nor inhibited cytokine production (Fig. 4Go). The TNF-{alpha} release was almost completely suppressed by the nonselective channel blockers quinine (100 µM) and TEA (10 mM) in freshly isolated monocytes and macrophages (data not shown). Paxilline (5 µM) blocked TNF-{alpha} release in macrophages, but had no significant effect on monocytes (Fig. 5Go). These results are consistent with the expression pattern of MaxiK channels in monocytes/macrophages and indicate that MaxiK channels are the essential targets of paxilline in the blockade of cytokine production.



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FIGURE 4. Agarose gel electropherograms of RT-PCR products in the presence of Re LPS and K+-channel blockers. Lane 1, Medium control; lane 2, plus 0.5 µM apamin; lane 3, plus 5 µM paxilline; lane 4, plus 50 ng/ml Re LPS; lane 5, plus 50 ng/ml Re LPS and 0.5 µM apamin; lane 6, plus 50 ng/ml Re LPS and 5 µM paxilline; lane n, negative PCR control; lane p, positive PCR control; lane s, 100-bp standard. Channel blocking indicates the effect on MaxiK channel.

 


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FIGURE 5. Effect of different paxilline concentrations on TNF-{alpha} release from human peripheral blood monocytes and macrophages after stimulation with 1 ng/ml S-form LPS from Salmonella minnesota. Paxilline was added 5 min after LPS stimulation. Data represent the average of duplicate determinations at two different dilutions each.

 
Recently, Thiéblemont et al. (32) have shown that PBMC can be activated to produce IL-6 by the antagonistic LPS and lipid A from Rhodobacter sphaeroides (RsLPS, RsLA) in the presence of CPZ in a dose-dependent manner in a concentration range of CPZ from 0.05 to 0.5 µM. They interpreted their results by assuming an increase of the hydrophobic bulk of the antagonistic RsLPS or RsLA, thus generating a packing geometry resembling that of an agonistic LPS or lipid A. These findings are in correspondence to our hypothesis of a particular endotoxic conformation of lipid A. In earlier work, we have provided clear experimental evidence for a strong correlation between the molecular conformation of lipid A and its capacity to induce cytokine production in PBMC. Thus, those lipid A assuming a conical molecular conformation had the highest cytokine-inducing capacity while those with a cylindrical conformation were agonistically inactive but had an antagonistic activity when they carried negative charges (33). A structural rearrangement of pentaacyl lipid A from E. coli from a lamellar structure, which is indicative of an inactive or antagonistic cylindrical conformation (33) in the absence of CPZ, to inverted cubic in the presence of CPZ, which reflects an active conical conformation of the lipid A/CPZ complexes, could indeed be observed in small-angle x-ray diffraction experiments from the change in the characteristic diffraction patterns (Fig. 6Go, a and b). For this, it is assumed that lipid A and CPZ molecules form stable complexes, which are preserved when extracted from the aggregate, e.g., by the action of LBP.



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FIGURE 6. Effect of chlorpromazine on structure and activity of an LPS antagonist. a and b, Small-angle x-ray diffraction spectra of the aggregate structure of pentaacyl lipid A from E. coli in the absence (a) and presence (b) of 100 mM CPZ. The broad diffraction pattern of the pure pentaacyl lipid A (a) is indicative of a unilamellar structure, the diffraction maxima in the presence of CPZ (b) are grouped according to 7.06 nm = aQ/{surd}2, 5.12 nm = aQ/{surd}4, 3.26 nm = aQ/{surd}10, 2.58 nm = aQ/{surd}16, 2.27 = aQ/{surd}20, 2.09 nm = aQ/{surd}24 with the lattice constant aQ = (10.2 ± 0.2) nm, thus indicating a cubic phase probably of space group Q229. The molecular conformation derived from the diffraction spectra of lipid A and lipid A/CPZ complexes are schematically drawn in a and b. c, Open probability of the MaxiK channel in dependence on the applied voltage. {blacksquare}, Control; •, plus 5 nM ({approx}10 ng/ml) pentaacyl lipid A from E. coli; {blacktriangleup}, plus coincubated pentaacyl lipid A and CPZ (5 nM/100 nM). Curves represent the results from one representative of at least three independent experiments.

 
In accordance with these findings, CPZ increased the effect of pentaacyl lipid A on channel activity. The addition of 0.05–0.1 µM CPZ led to an increase of the open probability of the channel as compared with that in the presence of 20 ng/ml pentaacyl lipid A alone (Fig. 6Goc). In a number of independent control experiments it was shown that in this concentration range CPZ alone had no effect on the open probability. This observation excludes the possibility that CPZ in this low concentration range and in the absence of lipid A causes membrane alterations that would affect channel gating. At the endotoxin concentration applied, CPZ concentrations above 1 µM led to channel blocking as was observed for CPZ alone at comparable concentrations (data not shown). This decreased channel activity at higher CPZ concentrations is consistent with the decrease in the IL-6-inducing capacity described by Thiéblemont et al. (32). With these experiments we have, for the first time, shown a direct relation between the capacity of endotoxin to activate the immune system, i.e., to induce cytokine production in macrophages, and the structure and conformation of the endotoxin molecules.

First evidence for an involvement of K+ channels in LPS signal transduction has been provided by Maruyama et al. (13), who described the inhibition of LPS-induced cytokine production by the nonspecific K+ channel blocker quinine, and by Walev et al. (12), who have provided a first example for the control of a proteolytic process by the major intracellular ion by showing that K+ efflux plays an important role in LPS-stimulated IL-1{beta} synthesis in monocytes. McKinney and Gallin (15) have shown that LPS treatment changes the density of inwardly rectifying K+ channels, and Hoang et al. (16) and Maruyama et al. (13) have described the activation of high-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels by LPS in artery smooth muscle cells and in human alveolar macrophages. And most interestingly, in a very recent publication Chen et al. (34) have reported on the expression of activated large conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels in vascular smooth muscle in rats with endotoxic shock. The authors suggest that the channels are activated by an LPS-induced overproduction of NO, i.e., as a secondary or even tertiary step of LPS signaling, and that they contribute to endotoxin-mediated vascular hyporeactivity.

In our experiments, we applied LPS in physiological concentrations (a few nanograms) to the outside of outside-out membrane patches. Hereby, we have shown that the interaction between LPS and the channel in the cytoplasmic membrane of macrophages behaves in a manner consistent with known characteristics of LPS signaling, regarding both biological data as well as the physicochemical parameters of endotoxin, pointing toward an LPS signaling mechanism via a MaxiK channel as a primary step.

Kirber et al. (35) reported on the activation of a MaxiK channel in vascular smooth muscle cells by free negatively charged fatty acids, in particular myristic acid (14:0). In our experiments, the underlying mechanism of channel activation is not the interaction of fatty acids per se, because the agonistic hexaacyl lipid A activates the channel, whereas the antagonistic tetraacyl lipid A part structure, compound 406, does not. Obviously, channel activation by free fatty acids and by lipids underlie different mechanisms. For the latter, the molecular conformation is a most important parameter that is governed by the number of fatty acids in relation to the size of the backbone.

It has previously been shown that the sensitivity of monocytes to activation by LPS goes along with their adherence (15) and that the number of K+ channels expressed on freshly isolated monocytes is very low and is increased by adherence (36), long-term stimulation with LPS (37), or mechanical stress (10). Furthermore, Martin et al. (10) have shown that, during the process of adherence of monocytes to vascular endothelium, stimulation of the merging macrophages takes place, leading to the activation of potassium channels. These effects are consistent with the observed increase in the number of high-conductance Ca2+-dependent K+ channels expressed during the differentiation of monocytes to macrophages and the different effects of paxilline on LPS-induced TNF-{alpha} release from monocytes and macrophages (see above).

In this paper, we have provided strong experimental evidence that modulation of an ion channel is a very early step in LPS-induced transmembrane signaling in macrophages. We could define the channel to be a high-conductance Ca2+-sensitive and voltage-dependent K+ channel. Channel modulation is strongly dependent on the molecular conformation of the lipid A moiety and involves the membrane-bound LPS receptor mCD14, as shown by the anti-CD14 Ab-mediated blockade of the channel activation. The involvement of further membrane-bound or transmembrane proteins remains to be elucidated. It has been shown in the literature that members of the Toll-like receptor (TLR) family play an important role in LPS signaling (38, 39, 40, 41). Thus, TNF-{alpha} release could be significantly reduced by an Ab recognizing TLR4/MD-2 complexes (41) (it has been previously shown that TLR4-mediated signaling requires the associated protein MD-2 (42)). However, from our channel-blocking experiments with paxilline, it follows that the TLR pathway is not independent from the described K+ channel. Furthermore, our data together with earlier findings in the literature (12, 15) reveal a switch between the mechanisms of LPS-induced activation of monocytes and macrophages. Nevertheless, it seems very likely that in both cell types K+ channels are involved in LPS-induced transmembrane signaling, because induction of cytokine production in macrophages could be inhibited by the selective channel blocker paxilline as well as by the nonselective blockers quinine and TEA and that in monocytes only by the latter. This implies that the channels involved in activation of monocytes and macrophages differ in their structure and function. Also, from our earlier work on the correlation between molecular conformation and cytokine-inducing capacity of lipid A using PBMC and the present results on macrophages it seems evident that this correlation is valid independent of the particular signaling mechanisms in the different cell types or of the state of differentiation.

Details of the signaling cascade, but also of the interaction mechanisms of LPS with the channel, remain to be elucidated. This includes also the involvement of further membrane-bound and serum proteins and a deeper understanding of the role of agonistic and antagonistic compounds such as lipid A precursors or part structures and phospholipids (43).

To our knowledge, our data show for the first time the direct involvement of a transmembrane protein in the very early steps of LPS signaling.


    Acknowledgments
 
We thank S. Kusumoto (Department of Chemistry, University of Osaka, Japan) for kindly providing the synthetic compound 406, V. Horejshi (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic) for the Ab MEM 18, and M. Koch for performing the x-ray diffraction measurements.


    Footnotes
 
1 This work was financially supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 367, project B8). Back

2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Ulrich Seydel, Division of Biophysics, Department of Immunochemistry and Biochemical Microbiology, Research Center Borstel, Center for Medicine and Biosciences, Parkallee 10, D-23845 Borstel, Germany. Back

3 Abbreviations used in this paper: mCD14, membrane-bound CD14; sCD14, soluble CD14; CPZ, chlorpromazine; HMDM, human macrophages derived from peripheral blood monocytes; LBP, LPS-binding protein; RsLPS, LPS from Rhodobacter sphaeroides; RsLA, lipid A from Rhodobacter sphaeroides; TEA, tetraethylammonium; TLR, Toll-like receptor. Back

Received for publication June 23, 2000. Accepted for publication October 18, 2000.


    References
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results and Discussion
 References
 

  1. Raetz, C.. 1990. Biochemistry of endotoxins. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 59:129.[Medline]
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