Transient receptor potential A1 (TRPAl) is a cold sensitive cation channel, which could also be activated by various pungent compounds. As a transduction channel in a number of sensory modalities, TRPAl expressing in heterogonous systems serves to provide great convenience in pharmacological analysis and functional investigation. Due to cellular toxicity, establishment of stable TRPAl cell line has always been challenging. Nevertheless, the first stable human embryonic kidney (HEK-293) cell line with un-controlled expression of TRPAl was successfully established. It was also confirmed that this stable cell line retained TRPAl expression for more than 25 passages in culture. The functional analysis of the cell response verified the stability and specificity of this novel recombinant TRPAl cell line. Altogether, the data indicated this TRPAl-HEK cell line would be a useful tool for functional analysis of TRPAl and for the development of high throughput screening (HTS) compatible assay in the effort to identify TRPAl modulators.

A subcellular proteomic method was applied to investigate the protein expression profiles of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cell lines,CNE1 and CNE2,at various differentiation levels.Plasma membrane (PM) proteins were obtained by Percoll density grade centrifugation and subjected to twodimensional electrophoresis (2DE) followed by PDQuest software analysis.Nine proteins expressed with more than two folds difference were identified by MALDI-TOF-TOF,of which functions involved in cell differentiation,signal transduction,and metabolism.Half of these proteins,such as galectin-1 and annexin Ⅱ,were analyzed with real-time quantitative PCR or Westem blotting.We have tested a proteomic method to study differentiated NPCs at different levels and found several proteins that might be related to their biological characteristics.

We established a cell based high throughput screening model by calcium assay on fluorometric imaging plate reader for finding modulators of TRPV3. The TRPV3 expression vector was transfected into HEK-293 and stable cell line expressing TRPV3 was selected with antibiotics. Upon TRPV3 specific modulators stimulated, pharmacological characteristics of TRPV3 over expression cell line were detected by calcium assay on fluorometric imaging plate reader. Assay conditions were optimized and stability of the model was observed. The reliability and accuracy of application to 96 and 384 well format high throughput screening were also evaluated. A stable HEK-293 cell line highly expressing TRPV3 was established. TRPV3 specific modulators could modulate calcium signal through TRPV3 in dose dependent manner. Optimized screening condition was established by assay development. This model is stable and sensitive, and meets the requirement of high throughput screening by Z'factor validation and Spiking test. This cell model can be applied to screening TRPV3 modulators by calcium assay.
Calcium ; metabolism ; Cell Line ; Humans ; Ion Transport ; Kidney ; cytology ; Membrane Transport Modulators ; metabolism ; Models, Biological ; TRPV Cation Channels ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Transfection

To effectively screen treating pigmentation disorders drug, a new transgenic zebrafish drug screening model was constructed. Green fluorescent protein(GFP)were drived by tyrosinase-related protein 1a (tyrp1a)promoter specific expression in melanocyte. Effect of N-Phenylthiourea(PTU)and alpha-melanaocyte stimulating hormone(α-MSH)on the GFP expression and melanogenic of tyrp1a: eGFP zebrafish were photographed under the steromicroscope. Results showed that PTU could significantly inhibit the melanogenic and expression of GFP of zebrafish. As compared with control group, α-MSH treatment resulted in marked stimulation of body pigmentation and expression of GFP. In conclusion, a new transgenic zebrafish drug screening model was successfully established, which can be used for treating pigmentation disorders.