Bioelectric Properties of Cultured Nasal Polyp and Turbinate Epithelial Cells

Abstract

Epithelial cells isolated from nasal polyps and inferior turbinates from patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and without CF were studied on permeable collagen matrices. Transepithelial potential difference and resistance were measured daily, and the equivalent short-circuit current was calculated from Ohm's law. CF polyp and CF turbinate samples had higher transepithelial potential differences than the corresponding non-CF samples, as has been previously reported. However, polyp-derived epithelium appeared to have a greater rate of transepithelial ion transport than turbinate-derived epithelium in both CF and non-CF patients. This may reflect differences in excision techniques, different distribution of cell types, or persistent effects of inflammatory mediators in polyp samples. It is suggested that mediators of inflammation that are known to be present in nasal polyps may have an effect on regulating ion transport in nasal polyp epithelium. This, in turn, could have an effect on movement of water into the cell and into the interstitial tissue, causing edema, which is the most prominent histopathological finding in nasal polyps.