In case of traumatic brain injury (TBI), occurrence of central nervous tissue damage is frequently aligned with local modulations of neuronal and glial gap junction channel expression levels. The degree of gap junctional protein expression and intercellular coupling efficiency, as well as hemichannel function has substantially impact on the course of trauma recovery and outcome. During TBI, gap...

Both neurons and glia throughout the central nervous system are organized into networks by gap junctions. Among glia, gap junctions facilitate metabolic homeostasis and intercellular communication. Among neurons, gap junctions form electrical synapses that function primarily for communication. However, in neurodegenerative states due to disease or injury gap junctions may be detrimental to surv...

Gap junction-mediated intercellular coupling is higher in the equatorial region of the lens than at either pole, a property believed to be essential for lens transparency. We show that fibroblast growth factor (FGF) upregulates gap junctional intercellular dye transfer in primary cultures of embryonic chick lens cells without detectably increasing either gap junction protein (connexin) synthesi...

Objective: Gap junction channels provide for direct electrical coupling between cells, and play an important role in homeostasis and electrical coupling. One of the proteins that form gap junctions, Connexin40 (Cx40), shows restricted expression in the body, and is found in blood vessels and in the atrium and conduction system of the heart. We have investigated whether gap junction channels for...

BACKGROUND Gap junctions are clusters of intercellular channels allowing the bidirectional pass of ions directly into the cytoplasm of adjacent cells. Electrical coupling mediated by gap junctions plays a role in the generation of highly synchronized electrical activity. The hypersynchronous neuronal activity is a distinctive characteristic of convulsive events. Therefore, it has been postulate...