Expression And Function Of AQP3 In Peripheral Nerve System

The aquaporins (AQPs) are a family of water transporting proteins with thirteen homologous members identified in mammals. Members of the AQP family are distributed in many cell types in different organ systems where they play important roles in various physiological functions and pathological conditions including urinary concentrating function, exocrine glandular fluid secretion, brain edema formation, regulation of intracranial and intraocular pressure, skin hydration, fat metabolism, tumor angiogenesis,cell migration and apoptosis. Schwann cells (SCs) are a kind of glia cells in peripheral nerve system which play an important role in myelin formation ,signal transduction, nerve regeneration and form a microenvironment for axons to get nutrition.In the present study, we studied expression and function of AQP3 in mouse Schwann cell. First we demonstrated AQP3 protein expression in SCs through RT-PCR and immunofluorescence. There is great difference in glycerol and glucose content, so does cell migration ability. There is also significant difference in nerve regeneration between wild type and AQP3 knockout mice, which indicated that AQP3 may play an important role in peripheral nerve regeneration.