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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Mol Med (Berl). 2017 May 20;95(9):905–913. doi: 10.1007/s00109-017-1544-2

Figure 1. Adenine nucleotide metabolism by intestinal epithelial cells.

Figure 1

During acute inflammation, PMN transmigration, platelet co-migration and direct cellular injury result in the accumulation of extracellular ATP on the luminal aspect of the intestinal mucosa. ATP is metabolized to AMP by ecto-nucleotidases (CD39) and then to adenosine by ecto-5′-nucleotidase (CD73). Extracellular adenosine then signals in an autocrine and paracrine manner through adenosine receptors expressed on the apical membrane of intestinal epithelial cells, the most prominent of which is Adora2B.