Actin dynamics regulate immediate PAR-2-dependent responses to acute epidermal permeability barrier abrogation

Abstract Background Lamellar body (LB) secretion and terminal differentiation of stratum granulosum (SG) cells are signaled by both protease activated receptor-2 (PAR-2) and caveolin-1 (cav-1). Objective To address the early dynamics of LB secretion, we examined cytoskeletal remodeling of keratinocytes in 3 mouse models following acute barrier abrogation: hairless mice, PAR-2 knockout (−/−) and cav-1 −/−. Methods and results Under basal conditions, globular (G)-actin accumulates in SG cells cytosol, while filamentous (F)-actin is restricted to peri-membrane domains. Barrier abrogation induces the apical movement of F-actin and the retreat of the SG-G-actin front, paralleled by upstream cytoskeletal kinases activation. This phenomenon was both enhanced by PAR-2 agonist, and inhibited by cytochalasin-D and in PAR-2 knockout mice. We found that plasma membrane conformational changes causing LB secretion are controlled by PAR-2-dependent cytoskeletal rearrangements. We next addressed the interaction dynamics between cytoskeleton and plasma membrane following PAR-2-induced actin stress fiber formation in both cav-1 −/− and wildtype cells. Actin stress fiber formation is increased in cav-1 −/− cells prior to and following PAR-2 agonist peptide-treatment, while absence of cav-1 inhibits E-cadherin-mediated cell-to-cell adhesion. Conclusion PAR-2 drives cytoskeletal/plasma membrane dynamics that regulate early LB secretion following barrier abrogation, stress fiber formation and keratinocyte adhesion.