Workman AD, Carey, RM, Chen, B, Saunders CJ, Marambaud P, Mitchell CH, Tordoff MG, Lee RJ, and Cohen NA. (2017). "CALHM1-Mediated ATP Release and Ciliary Beat Frequency Modulation in Nasal Epithelial Cells." Scientific Reports. 7:6687. PMID: 28751666
Alan elegantly shows that ATP release in response to a physiological mechanical stimulus (the level of pressure evoked by a sneeze) is mediated by CALHM1, the same ion channel that mediates ATP release in Type II taste cells (as previously shown by Kevin Foskett's lab here at Penn). Alan's study is important because studies of ATP release in the airway has primarily focused on pannexins, often with very harsh stimuli (i.e. hypotonic cell swelling). Alan shows that CALHM1 plays a complementary role to Panx1 (in a more physiological setting) that has so far been completely overlooked in the airway. It is very nice to see this study finally published and up on Pubmed after a lot of hard work. The full text is freely available on the Scientific Reports website.
Alan elegantly shows that ATP release in response to a physiological mechanical stimulus (the level of pressure evoked by a sneeze) is mediated by CALHM1, the same ion channel that mediates ATP release in Type II taste cells (as previously shown by Kevin Foskett's lab here at Penn). Alan's study is important because studies of ATP release in the airway has primarily focused on pannexins, often with very harsh stimuli (i.e. hypotonic cell swelling). Alan shows that CALHM1 plays a complementary role to Panx1 (in a more physiological setting) that has so far been completely overlooked in the airway. It is very nice to see this study finally published and up on Pubmed after a lot of hard work. The full text is freely available on the Scientific Reports website.
