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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2022.02.25.482046

Blood cells communicate remotely via an NMDA receptor-mediated glutamatergic chain-reaction

Kopach, O.·Sylantyev, S.·Bard, L.·Michaluk, P.·Gutierrez del Arroyo, A.·Ackland, G. L.·Rusakov, D. A.
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Abstract

Neutrophils are white blood cells that are critical to the acute inflammatory and adaptive immune responses. Their swarming-pattern behaviour is controlled by multiple cellular cascades involving calcium-dependent release of various signalling molecules. Previous studies have reported that neutrophils express glutamate receptors and can release glutamate but evidence of direct neutrophil-neutrophil communication has been elusive. Here, we hold semi-suspended cultured human neutrophils in patch-clamp whole-cell mode to find that calcium mobilisation induced by stimulating one neutrophil can trigger an NMDA receptor-driven membrane current and calcium signal in neighbouring neutrophils. We employ an enzymatic-based imaging assay to image, in real time, glutamate release from neutrophils induced by glutamate released from their neighbours. These observations provide direct evidence for a positive-feedback inter-neutrophil communication that could contribute to mechanisms regulating communal neutrophil behaviour.

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Kopach, O., Sylantyev, S., Bard, L., Michaluk, P., Gutierrez del Arroyo, A., Ackland, G. L., Rusakov, D. A.. 2022-02-26. Blood cells communicate remotely via an NMDA receptor-mediated glutamatergic chain-reaction. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.02.25.482046

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