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In an attempt to gain increased molecular
In an attempt to gain increased molecular insights into in vivo transmigration of neutrophils, we applied an aseptic inflammatory skin chamber model. In this model, recruitment of neutrophils is typically associated with phenotypic changes of many plasma membrane localized adhesion receptors in peripheral blood and tissue recruited neutrophils (see Fig. 7, [51]). There are also functional changes for many GPCRs as illustrated by the primed response to FPR-specific agonists (fMLF for FPR1; WKYMVM for FPR2) and, the inability of IL-8, C5a, and the FFA2R specific agonist Cmp1 to activate tissue recruited neutrophils [4,35]. In this study, we demonstrate that the skin chamber neutrophils were primed also in their response to ZQ16, which puts GPR84 in the same receptor category as the FPRs. Based on the fact that the functional changes (primed/desensitized) associated with tissue recruitment are agonist-specific, we have earlier suggested that receptors that are upregulated are not involved in the recruitment process. This suggestion, based on the assumption that responses mediated by receptors directly involved in recruitment should be desensitized and endocytosed and by that non-responding, may thus not be valid.
Receptor regulation is a dynamic and complex process and endocytosed receptors may be recirculated and reused and in addition a large number of receptors, stored in neutrophil granules, are mobilized during extravasation [35,51]. This means that receptor upregulation/recirculation might over-ride receptor desensitization/internalization/degradation during the recruitment process. The approach to determine the GPR84 mediated activity in the presence of the cytoskeleton disrupting drug Latrunculin A, possibly discloses the receptor involvement in recruitment. In such a system, the activities triggered by agonist occupied GPR84, as well as FPRs, are lower in tissue recruited neutrophils than in blood neutrophils obtained from the same donor, suggesting a role also for these receptors in the recruitment process. It is however hard to draw firm conclusions about the precise receptor-involvement in the recruitment process from our results with tissue neutrophils alone. To allow direct comparison between peripheral blood neutrophils and exudated cells, it would be necessary to expose control Cy3 azide isolated from peripheral blood to the same conditions as the exudate cells, except for the extravasation process. It is, however, not technically feasible to obtain adequately matched control cells since the contents of the chamber fluid change dynamically during the recruitment process, and the tissue recruited cells differ in age as they enter the chamber at different time points. Despite this, our data show a clear difference between FFA2R and GPR84, and the lack of response induced by Cmp1 (FFA2R agonist) even in the presence of Latrunculin A puts this receptor in the non-responding category together with CXCR1/2 (receptors for IL8) and C5aR (the receptor for complement component C5a [35]), whereas GPR84 belongs to the responding category comprising also the FPRs.
Our data provide insights into basic activation and regulatory mechanisms of the medium chain fatty acid recognition receptor GPR84 in inflammatory cells. The primary source for medium chain fatty acids is food intake of fatty diets present in tropical oils (such as coconut oil) that are transported from the gut to the liver where the medium chain fatty acids are further processed [52]. Thus, understanding the precise role of GPR84 in inflammation in both health and disease, should have direct clinical relevance. In particular in individuals undergoing medium chain fatty acid intervention therapy for treatment of varieties of clinical conditions including metabolic syndrome [53] and cardiac diseases [54].
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Introduction
In the last decade, free fatty acids (FFAs) have been demonstrated to act as ligands of several G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), i.e., GPR40, GPR41, GPR43, GPR84, and GPR120 [1], [2], [3], [4]. These fatty acid receptors are suggested to take part in the regulation of energy homeostasis including insulin secretion (GPR40), GLP-1 secretion (GPR120), and leptin regulation (GPR40, 43). Contrary to other FFA-GPCRs, GPR84 is a very exceptional one in that it is exclusively expressed in bone marrow, spleen, lymph nodes, and thymus of mice, and because its function proposed up to now is not associated with energy homeostasis [5]. RT-PCR analyses have demonstrated that GPR84 is eminently present in leukocytes or RAW 264.7 cells, but in low abundance in both human and murine adipose tissue and in 3T3-L1 adipocytes [6], [7]. So far, functional analyses have indicated that GPR84 mediates the involvement of medium-chain FFAs in the inflammatory processes provoked by the immune system. A study using GPR84-deficient mice revealed that GPR84 has a role in the regulation of early IL-4 gene expression in activated T cells [8]. In leukocytes, the GPR84 expression is markedly induced in monocytes/macrophages upon activation by LPS, and MCFAs act through GPR84 to amplify the stimulation of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced IL-12 p40 production [5], [9]. In CNS, microglia express GPR84 in animals suffering from endotoxemia or experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, which suggests a role for GPR84 in the regulation of microglial- and neuro-inflammatory processes [7]. Based on these findings, it is proposed that GPR84 is expressed to play some roles predominantly in the immune system. However, the function of GPR84 exerted towards adipose tissue has not been addressed.