Down regulation of TRPC1 by shRNA reduces mechanosensitivity in mouse dorsal root ganglion neurons in vitro

Mechanosensitivity is a crucial but poorly understood property of the sensory nervous system. Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels, which have been found to be responsible for the detection of other sensory stimuli such as temperature and pungent chemicals, have been suggested to also recognize stretch or pressure to cell membranes. TRPC1 is one candidate from studies in oocytes but evidence in native sensory neurons has been lacking. Therefore, we have measured an increase in intracellular Ca²⁺ levels upon mechanical activation of native mouse dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons in culture using hypoosmolar buffer. Our results show that down regulation of TRPC1 with short hairpin RNA results in a 65% reduction of neurons with stretch activated responses. These results implicate a direct or indirect involvement of TRPC1 in the mechanosensitivity of DRG neurons.