Sullivan DP, Watson RL, Muller WA. 4D intravital microscopy uncovers critical strain differences for the roles of PECAM and CD99 in leukocyte diapedesis. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 311: H621-H632, 2016. First published July 15, 2016 doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00289.2016.-Leukocyte transendothelial migration (TEM) is an essential component of the inflammatory response. In vitro studies with human cells have demonstrated that platelet/endothelial cell adhesion molecule (PECAM) functions upstream of CD99 during TEM; however, results in vivo with mice have been apparently contradictory. In this study we use four-dimensional (4D) intravital microscopy to demonstrate that the site and order of function of PECAM and CD99 in vivo are dependent on the strain of mice. In FVB/n mice, PECAM functions upstream of CD99, as in human cells in vitro, and blocking antibodies against either molecule arrest neutrophils before they traverse the endothelium. However, in C57BL/6 mice, PECAM and CD99 appear to function at a different step, as the same antibodies arrest leukocyte migration through the endothelial basement membrane. These results are the first direct comparison of PECAM and CD99 function in different murine strains as well as the first demonstration of the sequential function of PECAM and CD99 in vivo.CD99; diapedesis; inflammation; intravital microscopy; platelet/endothelial cell adhesion molecule
NEW & NOTEWORTHYThe data presented in this study help clarify seemingly discrepant findings in the field involving two of the common mouse strains used to study inflammation, particularly regarding the roles of PECAM and CD99 in leukocyte transendothelial migration.INFLAMMATION is part of the host's immune response to tissue damage. It involves the local delivery of leukocytes to sites of damage via a series of adhesive interactions with the endothelial cells (ECs) lining the postcapillary venules. The committed step of this process is transendothelial migration (TEM), or diapedesis, during which the leukocytes squeeze between adjacent ECs or traverse the body of an intact EC. Platelet/EC adhesion molecule (PECAM) and CD99 are two junctional adhesion molecules known to be critical for TEM (reviewed in Refs. 13 and 19). Human ECs in vitro have been used to show that PECAM functions upstream of CD99 to regulate leukocyte TEM; inhibiting PECAM function arrests leukocytes along the apical surface of the endothelium, whereas blocking CD99 arrests cells partway through EC junctions (16,23,34).In contrast to in vitro studies with human cells, in vivo studies of PECAM and CD99 in diapedesis have provided disparate results. PECAM blockade in vivo has been shown to inhibit leukocyte transmigration in all mouse strains tested except C57BL/6 mice and to arrest leukocytes along the endothelium in FVB/n mice, replicating findings in human cells in vitro. In contrast, in PECAM-deficient C57BL/6 mice, there is a transient defect in crossing the endothelial basement membrane (5, 9, 38) or no detectable effect on transmigration, depending on th...