Abstract
Antibody raised against isolated rat liver gap junctions was microinjected into coupled cells in culture to assess its influence on gap junctional conductance. A rapid inhibition of fluorescent dye transfer and electrical coupling was produced in pairs of freshly dissociated adult rat hepatocytes and myocardial cells as well as in pairs of superior cervical ganglion neurons from neonatal rats cultured under conditions in which electrotonic synapses form. The antibodies have been shown by indirect immunofluorescence to bind to punctate regions of the plasma membrane in liver. By immunoreplica analysis of rat liver homogenates, plasma membranes, and isolated gap junctions resolved on NaDodSO4/polyacrylamide gels, binding was shown to be specific for the 27-kDa major polypeptide of gap junctions. This and similar antibodies should provide a tool for further investigation of the role of cell-cell communication mediated by gap junctions and indicate that immunologically similar polypeptides comprise gap junctions in adult mammalian cells derived from all three germ layers.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2412-2416 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
| Volume | 82 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1985 |
| Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General