Role of transient receptor potential channels in airway smooth muscle cell growth

The proliferation of airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs) plays a vital role in airway remodeling. Besides, transient receptor potential channels (TRPC) play a key role in pathological cellular responses of ASMCs. In present studies, we investigated the effect of TRPC1 and TRPC3 on cell proliferation of ASMCs. Rats were sensitized with ovalbumin to construct asthmatic models. The pathological change of airway remodeling was detected by hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blot were used to detect the mRNA and protein expression of TRPC1, TRPC3 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in asthmatic and non-asthmatic rats respectively. Furthermore, the cell proliferation was detected by MTT assay and H-3-TdR incorporation assay. The expression of TRPC1 and TRPC3 significantly increased at both transcriptional and translational levels in asthmatic rats. Moreover, SKF96365 could effectively inhibit cell over-proliferation caused by asthma. In addition, knockdown of TRPC1 and TRPC3 significantly decreased the absorbance of MTT and DNA synthesis, while overexpression of TRPC1 and TRPC3 had the opposite effect in asthmatic ASMCs. TRPC1 and TRPC3 were involved in the regulation of cell proliferation in asthmatic ASMCs.