EPIC3, a novel Ca2+ indicator located at the cell cortex and in microridges, detects high Ca2+ subdomains during Ca2+ influx and phagocytosis.

The construction of a low affinity Ca2+-probe that locates to the cell cortex and cell surface wrinkles, is described called. EPIC3 (ezrin-protein indicator of Ca2+). The novel probe is a fusion of CEPIA3 with ezrin, and is used in combination with a Ca2+-insensitive probe, ezrin-mCherry, both of which locate at the cell cortex. EPIC3 was used to monitor the effect of Ca2+ influx on intra-wrinkle Ca2+ in the macrophage cell line, RAW 264.7. During experimentally-induced Ca2+influx, EPIC3 reported Ca2+ concentrations at the cell cortex in the region of 30-50 µM, with peak locations towards the tips of wrinkles reaching 80 µM. These concentrations were associated with cleavage of ezrin (a substrate for the Ca2+ activated protease calpain-1) and released the C-terminal fluors. The cortical Ca2+ levels, restricted to near the site of phagocytic cup formation and pseudopodia extension during phagocytosis also reached high levels (50-80 µM) during phagocytosis. As phagocytosis was completed, hotspots of Ca2+ near the phagosome were also observed.

Membrane Tension and the Role of Ezrin During Phagocytosis.

During phagocytosis, there is an apparent expansion of the plasma membrane to accommodate the target within a phagosome. This is accompanied (or driven by) a change in membrane tension. It is proposed that the wrinkled topography of the phagocyte surface, by un-wrinkling, provides the additional available membrane and that this explains the changes in membrane tension. There is no agreement as to the mechanism by which unfolding of cell surface wrinkles occurs during phagocytosis, but there is a good case building for the involvement of the actin-plasma membrane crosslinking protein ezrin. Not only have direct measurements of membrane tension strongly implicated ezrin as the key component in establishing membrane tension, but the cortical location of ezrin changes at the phagocytic cup, suggesting that it is locally signalled. This chapter therefore attempts to synthesise our current state of knowledge about ezrin and membrane tension with phagocytosis to provide a coherent hypothesis.

Ca2+-activated cleavage of ezrin visualised dynamically in living myeloid cells during cell surface area expansion.

The intracellular events underlying phagocytosis, a crucial event for innate immunity, are still unresolved. In order to test whether the reservoir of membrane required for the formation of the phagocytic pseudopodia is maintained by cortical ezrin, and that its cleavage is a key step in releasing this membrane, the cleavage of cortical ezrin was monitored within living phagocytes (the phagocytically competent cell line RAW264.7) through expressing two ezrin constructs with fluorescent protein tags located either inside the FERM or at the actin-binding domains. When ezrin is cleaved in the linker region by the Ca2+-activated protease calpain, separation of the two fluorophores would result. Experimentally induced Ca2+ influx triggered cleavage of peripherally located ezrin, which was temporally associated with cell expansion. Ezrin cleavage was also observed in the phagocytic pseudopodia during phagocytosis. Thus, our data demonstrates that peripheral ezrin is cleaved during Ca2+-influx-induced membrane expansion and locally within the extending pseudopodia during phagocytosis. This is consistent with a role for intact ezrin in maintaining folded membrane on the cell surface, which then becomes available for cell spreading and phagocytosis.

Optical Methods for the Measurement and Manipulation of Cytosolic Calcium Signals in Neutrophils.

The measurement and manipulation of cytosolic free Ca2+ of neutrophils is crucial for investigating the mechanisms within living neutrophils which generate Ca2+ signals and the cellular responses triggered by them. Optical methods for this are the most applicable for neutrophils, and are discussed here, especially the use of fluorescent indicators of Ca2+ and photoactivation of reagents involved in Ca2+ signaling. Both of these synthetic agents can be loaded into neutrophils as lipid-soluble esters or can be microinjected into the cell. In this chapter, we outline some of the techniques that have been used to monitor, visualize, and manipulate Ca2+ in neutrophils.

Neutrophil Cell Shape Change: Mechanism and Signalling during Cell Spreading and Phagocytosis.

Perhaps the most important feature of neutrophils is their ability to rapidly change shape. In the bloodstream, the neutrophils circulate as almost spherical cells, with the ability to deform in order to pass along narrower capillaries. Upon receiving the signal to extravasate, they are able to transform their morphology and flatten onto the endothelium surface. This transition, from a spherical to a flattened morphology, is the first key step which neutrophils undergo before moving out of the blood and into the extravascular tissue space. Once they have migrated through tissues towards sites of infection, neutrophils carry out their primary role-killing infecting microbes by performing phagocytosis and producing toxic reactive oxygen species within the microbe-containing phagosome. Phagocytosis involves the second key morphology change that neutrophils undergo, with the formation of pseudopodia which capture the microbe within an internal vesicle. Both the spherical to flattened stage and the phagocytic capture stage are rapid, each being completed within 100 s. Knowing how these rapid cell shape changes occur in neutrophils is thus fundamental to understanding neutrophil behaviour. This article will discuss advances in our current knowledge of this process, and also identify an important regulated molecular event which may represent an important target for anti-inflammatory therapy.

Phagocytosis and Motility in Human Neutrophils is Competent but Compromised by Pharmacological Inhibition of Ezrin Phosphorylation.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Ezrin links the cortical cytoskeleton to the plasma membrane and plays a role in regulating changes in cell shape. Recently, NSC668394 has been shown to inhibit a key step for its activity, i.e. phosphorylation at threonine 567. In neutrophils, another key regulatory step is the Ca2+-mediated cleavage of ezrin by calpain. METHODS: In this paper, we use NSC668394 as a pharmacological inhibitor to investigate the interplay between these two steps in regulating changes in neutrophil shape. RESULTS: NSC668394 reduced the amount of peripherally located ezrin in neutrophils, and increased Ca2+-dependent ezrin cleavage. Neutrophils with NSC668394-inhibited ezrin phosphorylation remained both phagocytic and chemotactically competent. However, phagocytosis was slightly impaired and chemotaxis could not be maintained over longer periods. The characteristic chemotactic morphology which neutrophils adopt was also aberrant. Although phosphorylation of ezrin plays a minor role in limiting the rapid changes in cell shape in neutrophils, inhibition of ezrin phosphorylation by NSC668394 prevented multiple and prolonged shape changes during extended chemotaxis. CONCLUSION: The susceptibility of prolonged chemotaxis to inhibition by NSC668394 may point to a useful target for anti-inflammatory therapy. Inhibition of neutrophil chemotaxis towards chronically inflamed sites without compromising their ability to undergo phagocytosis is a much sought after the effect of anti-neutrophil therapy.