Caveola is a key vehicle for paraquat uptake into lung

Abstract

Paraquat dichloride (PQ) is an effective and widely used herbicide for eliminating weeds. However, once being accidentally or voluntarily ingested, PQ-poisoned patients have the very high incidence of adult respiratory distress syndrome because lung can actively absorb PQ. Since the 1970s, evidence suggested that polyamine competitively inhibited uptake of PQ into lung tissue; therefore, polyamine transport system has been regarded as an important vehicle for PQ uptake into lung. However, so far, we cannot clone or detect the polyamine transport system in mammalian animal. Recent evidence from diverse sources has suggested that caveola may be an important vehicle for polyamine absorption into lung. Herein we hypothesise that caveola is a key vehicle for PQ uptake in lung and hence blocking the expression of caveola may serve as new targets for treatment of PQ poisoning.