Reduction of Dye Coupling in Glial Cultures by Microinjection of Antibodies against the Liver Gap Junction Polypeptide

摘要

Intracellular injection of antibodies to the 27-kDa liver gap junction polypeptide have been shown previously to uncouple pairs of cultured mammalian hepatocytes, cardiac myocytes, and ganglionic neurons. In confluent primary cultures of astrocytes, similar injections significantly reduced dye coupling for cells closer than 80 micrometers to the injected glial cell. Western blots identified a 27-kDa protein in extracts of the astrocyte cultures that cross-reach with the gap junction-specific antibodies. These results suggest that homologous gap junction polypeptides exist in liver and glial cells.