Polarized trafficking of the sorting receptor SorLA in neurons and MDCK cells.

The sorting receptor SorLA is highly expressed in neurons and is also found in other polarized cells. The receptor has been reported to participate in the trafficking of several ligands, some of which are linked to human diseases, including the amyloid precursor protein, TrkB, and Lipoprotein Lipase (LpL). Despite this, only the trafficking in nonpolarized cells has been described so far. Due to the many differences between polarized and nonpolarized cells, we examined the localization and trafficking of SorLA in epithelial Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells and rat hippocampal neurons. We show that SorLA is mainly found in sorting endosomes and on the basolateral surface of MDCK cells and in the somatodendritic domain of neurons. This polarized distribution of SorLA respectively depends on an acidic cluster and an extended version of this cluster and involves the cellular adaptor complex AP-1. Furthermore, we show that SorLA can mediate transcytosis across a tight cell layer.