2-Aminoethoxydiphenyl borate (2-APB), an inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptor modulator, inhibits capacitive current transients measured in normal rat kidney and human embryonic kidney 293 cells, an indication of blocking gap junction channels between these cells. Here, we used the dual whole-cell patch-clamp method to study the actions of 2-APB on gap junction channels formed by selected conne...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Cisplatin is a standard first-line chemotherapeutic agents for treating advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Unfortunately, the clinical application cisplatin is restricted because it induces serious adverse reaction. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence and probable mechanism of berberine on cisplatin antineoplastic effect on lung cancer A549 cells. ...

Gap junction channels are composed of members of a multi-gene family of proteins called connexins. These proteins are named by the abbreviation Cx followed by the molecular weight of the specific protein. Mammalian cardiac myocytes express Cx43, Cx45, and Cx40, the former being the major cardiac gap junction protein, which is expressed in atrial and ventricular myocytes as well as in selected r...

.......................................................................................6 List of abbreviations........................................................................8 Introduction...................................................................................9 1.Gap junction................................................................................9 1.1.Connexins..........

Pannexins are a newly described family of proteins that may form gap junctions. We made antisera against mouse pannexin1 (Panx1). HeLa cells expressing Panx1 have cell surface labeling, but not gap junction plaques, and do not transfer small fluorescent dyes or neurobiotin in a scrape-loading assay. Neuro2a cells expressing Panx1 are not electrophysiologically coupled. Intracellular Panx1-immun...

The present study was designed to explore the role of gap junctions in follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF beta1)-stimulated steroidogenesis in ovarian granulosa cells of gonadotropin-primed immature rats. There were three specific aims. First, we investigated the effect of FSH and TGF beta1 as well as lindane (a general gap junction blocker) on the leve...

The in situ distribution of the 26-kdalton Main Intrinsic Polypeptide (MIP or MP 26), a putative gap junction protein in ocular lens fibers, was defined at the electron microscope level using indirect immunoferritin labeling of ultrathin frozen sections of rat lens. MIP was found distributed throughout the plasma membrane of the lens fiber cell, with no apparent distinction between junctional a...

Although loss of connexin expression and/or gap junction intercellular communication correlates with decreased growth control and increased neoplastic potential, there is limited evidence directly linking gap junction intercellular communication function with tumor suppression in situ. Here, we show for the first time that a gap junction protein, connexin32 (Cx32), acts as a lung tumor suppress...

In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Reproductive hormones have been demonstrated to modulate both gap and tight junction p...

Nerve cells and spontaneous coordinated behavior first appeared near the base of animal evolution in the common ancestor of cnidarians and bilaterians. Experiments on the cnidarian Hydra have demonstrated that nerve cells are essential for this behavior, although nerve cells in Hydra are organized in a diffuse network and do not form ganglia. Here we show that the gap junction protein innexin-2...