Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 14, 2023; 29(38): 5374-5382
Published online Oct 14, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i38.5374
Expression and functional study of cholecystokinin-A receptors on the interstitial Cajal-like cells of the guinea pig common bile duct
Dan Xu, Song-Lin Ma, Man-Lin Huang, Heng Zhang
Dan Xu, Song-Lin Ma, Man-Lin Huang, Heng Zhang, Department of Gastroenterology, The Central Hospital of Wuhan, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430014, Hubei Province, China
Dan Xu, Song-Lin Ma, Man-Lin Huang, Heng Zhang, Key Laboratory for Molecular Diagnosis of Hubei Province, The Central Hospital of Wuhan, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430014, Hubei Province, China
Co-first authors: Dan Xu and Song-Lin Ma.
Author contributions: Xu D and Ma SL contributed equally to this work and are co-first authors, including design of the study, acquiring and analyzing data from experiments, and writing of the actual manuscript. Xu D, Ma SL, and Zhang H conceived and designed the experiments, wrote the paper, contributed to the statistical analysis; Xu D, Ma SL, Huang ML, and Zhang H performed the experiments; and all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All experiments were conducted in accordance with the institutional guidelines of the Central Hospital of Wuhan for the care and use of laboratory animals.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Heng Zhang, PhD, Doctor, Department of Gastroenterology, The Central Hospital of Wuhan, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No. 26 Shengli Street, Jiang’an District, Wuhan 430014, Hubei Province, China. xqzr@sohu.com
Received: July 27, 2023
Peer-review started: July 27, 2023
First decision: August 8, 2023
Revised: September 16, 2023
Accepted: September 26, 2023
Article in press: September 26, 2023
Published online: October 14, 2023
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Interstitial Cajal cells (ICCs) are a kind of interstitial cells existing in the gastrointestinal tract, which are related to basic electric rhythm. Many studies have shown that Interstitial Cajal-like cells (ICLCs) abnormalities are closely related to a variety of gastrointestinal dynamic disorders. ICLCs are pacemaker cells for gastrointestinal movement and are involved in the transmission of nerve impulses.

Research motivation

This study aims to preliminarily investigate the pathogenesis of biliary tract diseases to deepen our understanding of biliary tract dynamics and provide novel ideas for the pathogenesis and clinical treatment of related dynamic diseases.

Research objectives

Figure out the pathogenesis of biliary tract dynamics and related dynamic diseases such as choledocholithiasis. As well as the expression of cholecystokinin-A (CCK-A) receptors on common bile duct (CBD) ICLCs. Investigate how CCK regulates biliary tract dynamics through CBD ICLCs

Research methods

Of 250-300g adult guinea pigs of either sex were used to obtain CBD tissue. Then, the levels of tyrosine kinase receptor and CCK-A receptors in CBD tissues and CBD isolated cells were quantified using the double immunofluorescence labeling technique. The enhancement effect of CCK on the movement of CBD muscle strips through CBD ICLCs was observed by muscle strip contraction test.

Research results

The guinea pig CBD ICLCs had abundant mitochondria, which were active in function and provided energy for slow-wave pacemaker cells. The expression of CCK-A receptors was confirmed on guinea pig CBD ICLCs by choledochal histology and immunofluorescence method of isolated ICLC-cultured slides.

Research conclusions

This research demonstrates a dose-dependent contraction of smooth muscle by CCK with a concentration ranging 10-10 to 10-6 mol/L, and reduced responses of ICLC-removed CBD smooth muscle to CCK, suggesting that ICLCs not only regulate CBD smooth muscle motility by slow wave potentials caused by the known pacemaker current pathway, but also mediate CCK-induced CBD smooth muscle contraction through chemical excitation.

Research perspectives

Investigate the distribution, expression, morphology and ultrastructure of CBD ICLCs. Also, the expression and function of CCK-A receptors on CBD ICLCs.