The actin cytoskeleton and integrin expression in the recovery of cell adhesion after oxidant stress to a proximal tubule cell line (JTC-12).

This study examines the role of the actin cytoskeleton and integrin expression in the recovery of cell adhesion in the proximal tubule cell line JTC-12 after peroxide injury. The cells were exposed to 10, 20, or 50 mM hydrogen peroxide for 10 min and then allowed to recover. Viability measurements by trypan blue exclusion confirmed that the injury was largely nonlethal with 85% viability at 1 h even at 50 mM peroxide. ATP levels fell immediately after the peroxide incubation in all groups to approximately 10% of normal, but already showed some recovery by 1 h and full recovery in the 10 and 20 mM groups by 24 h. Cell adhesion to extracellular matrix immediately after injury was depressed at 20 and 50 mM peroxide, but by 12 h was abnormal only at 50 mM peroxide and at 24 h was essentially normal at all peroxide concentrations. Immediately after exposure to 10 mM peroxide, there were subtle abnormalities in the actin cytoskeleton (thickening of fibrils) as assessed by phalloidin staining, with more pronounced effects at 20 and 50 mM. At 1 h, many cells showed collapse of the actin cytoskeleton to the periphery. There was some recovery at 4 h; by 12 h, the actin cytoskeleton showed further recovery, although was still abnormal (coarsened microfilaments), especially at 20 and 50 mM peroxide. By 24 h, the actin cytoskeleton showed only subtle coarsening. Integrin surface expression was assessed by flow cytometry. The alpha6 subunit on cells exposed to 20 mM peroxide was unchanged at 1 h and 4 h, but by 12 h had increased to 118.5+/-4.5% and by 24 h to 146+/-13.4% of control levels. The expression of the beta1 and alphaVbeta3 integrins remained unchanged. Thus, despite coarsening of the actin cytoskeleton and depressed ATP levels, cell adhesion recovered from oxidant stress. Abnormal cell adhesion after injury was not a consequence of a decrease in integrin expression, and recovery of cell adhesion was not a consequence of the modest and selective increase in integrin expression.