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Correspondence to: Patricia A. Detmers, Merck Research Laboratories, 126 E. Lincoln Ave., RY80W-250, Rahway, NJ 07065. Tel:732-594-1431 Fax:732-594-4620 E-mail:patricia_detmers{at}merck.com.
Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) fluorescently labeled with boron dipyrromethane (BODIPY) first binds to the plasma membrane of CD14-expressing cells and is subsequently internalized. Intracellular LPS appears in small vesicles near the cell surface and later in larger, punctate structures identified as the Golgi apparatus. To determine if membrane (m)CD14 directs the movement of LPS to the Golgi apparatus, an mCD14 chimera containing enhanced green fluorescent protein (mCD14EGFP) was used to follow trafficking of mCD14 and BODIPYLPS in stable transfectants. The chimera was expressed strongly on the cell surface and also in a Golgi complexlike structure. mCD14EGFP was functional in mediating binding of and responses to LPS. BODIPYLPS presented to the transfectants as complexes with soluble CD14 first colocalized with mCD14EGFP on the cell surface. However, within 510 min, the BODIPYLPS distributed to intracellular vesicles that did not contain mCD14EGFP, indicating that mCD14 did not accompany LPS during endocytic movement. These results suggest that monomeric LPS is transferred out of mCD14 at the plasma membrane and traffics within the cell independently of mCD14. In contrast, aggregates of LPS were internalized in association with mCD14, suggesting that LPS clearance occurs via a pathway distinct from that which leads to signaling via monomeric LPS.
Key Words: enhanced green fluorescent protein, U373 cells, intracellular trafficking
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