Adrenergic stimulation lowers the proportion of tracheal goblet cells containing fucosylated glycoconjugates in rabbits
Abstract
Intravenous administration of epinephrine is widely used in emergency medicine. Since such an administration of epinephrine conspicuously lowered the proportion of sialylated glycoconjugate-containing tracheal goblet cells, we evaluated the proportion of fucosylated glycoconjugate-containing tracheal goblet cells after the same treatment as well.
The proportion of fucosylated glycoconjugates mostly influences rheologic properties of the airways' mucus. Six New Zealand White rabbit males were intravenously administered with epinephrine in the dose of 10 mug per I kg of body weight.
Material for lectin histochemistry was collected 5 min and 20 min post exposure, respectively. Lectins of Ulex europaeus (ULE-I) detecting alpha(1-2)-linked fucose and of Aleuria aurantia (AAL) detecting alpha(1-3)-, alpha(1-4)-, and alpha(1-6)linked fucose were used both individually and simultaneously.
The proportion of total goblet cells containing fucosylated glycoconjugates decreased from 44.2 +/- 22.1% in controls to 3.2 +/- 14.0% and 9.2 +/- 7.8%, respectively, in treated animals. The proportion of goblet cells with ULE-I-positive content decreased from 38.9 +/- 119.9% to 0.3 +/- 0.7% and 4.3 +/- 4.5%, respectively.
The proportion of goblet cells with AAL-positive content decreased from 14.6 +/- 7.5% to 2.9 +/- 4.3% and 9.2 +/- 7.8%, respectively. In the rabbit tracheal epithelium, adrenergic stimulation dramatically lowered the proportion of goblet cells containing fucosylated glycoconjugates.
This decrease was mostly at the expense of alpha(1-2) fucosylated glycoconjugates and begun to recover 20 min post exposure.