Multiple connexins localized to individual gap-junctional plaques in human myometrial smooth muscle

Microscopy Research and Technique

Volumn 54, Issue 2, 2001, Pages 114-122

  Kilarski, Wincenty M ^a,b,c   Rothery, Stephen ^c   Roomans, Godfried M ^b   Ulmsten, Ulf ^b   Rezapour, Masoumeh ^b   Stevenson, Shirley ^c   Coppen, Steven R ^c   Dupont, Emmanuel ^c   Severs, Nicholas J ^c,d  

^a JAGIELLONIAN UNIVERSITY   (Poland)

^b UPPSALA UNIVERSITY   (Sweden)

^c NATIONAL HEART AND LUNG INSTITUTE   (United Kingdom)

^d ROYAL BROMPTON HOSPITAL   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Connexin40; Connexin43; Connexin45; Immunocytochemistry; Intercellular communication

Indexed keywords

CELLS;

CONNEXIN 43; CONNEXIN40; CONNEXIN45; GAP-JUNCTIONS; HUMAN MYOMETRIUM; IMMUNOCYTOCHEMISTRY; INTERCELLULAR COMMUNICATIONS; JUNCTIONAL PLAQUES; LOCALISED; SMOOTH MUSCLE CELLS;

MUSCLE;

CONNEXIN 40; CONNEXIN 43; CONNEXIN 45;

ARTICLE; CELL COMMUNICATION; CHILDBIRTH; CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY; ELECTRON MICROSCOPY; FEMALE; GAP JUNCTION; HUMAN; HUMAN TISSUE; IMMUNOCYTOCHEMISTRY; MYOMETRIUM; PRIORITY JOURNAL; PROTEIN LOCALIZATION; REGULATORY MECHANISM; SMOOTH MUSCLE; TISSUE DISTRIBUTION;

EID: 0035879381     PISSN: 1059910X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/jemt.1126     Document Type: Article

References (33)

1. Albrecht JL, Atal NS, Tadros PN, Orsino A, Lye SJ, Sadovsky Y, Beyer EC. 1996. Rat uterine myometrium contains the gap junction protein connexin45, which has a differing temporal expression pattern from connexin43. Am J Obstet Gynecol 175:853-858.
2. Balducci J, Risek B, Gilula NB, Hand A, Egan JFX, Vintzileos AM. 1993. Gap junction formation in human myometrium: A key to preterm labor. Am J Obstet Gynecol 168: 1609-1615.
3. Bruzzone R, White TW, Goodenough DA. 1996. The cellular internet: on-line with connexins. BioEssays 18:709-718.
4. Cardew G, editor. 1999. Gap junction-mediated intercellular signalling in health and disease. New York: John Wiley & Sons Ltd..
5. Carlemalm E, Garavito RM, Villiger W. 1981. Resin development for electron microscopy and an analysis of embedding at low temperature. J Microsc 126:123-129.
6. Chow L, Lye SJ. 1994. Expression of the gap junction protein connexin-43 is increased in the human myometrium toward term and with the onset of labor. Am J Obstet Gynecol 170:788-795.
7. Coppen SR, Dupont E, Rothery S, Severs NJ. 1998. Connexin45 expression is preferentially associated with the ventricular conduction system in mouse and rat heart. Circ Res 82:232-243.
8. Coppen SR, Severs NJ, Gourdie RG. 1999. Connexin45 (α6) expression delineates an extended conduction system in the embryonic and mature rodent heart. Dev Genet 24:82-90.
9. Doualla-Bell F, Lye SJ, Labrie F, Fortier MA. 1995. Differential expression and regulation of connexin-43 and cell- cell coupling in myocytes from the circular and longitudinal layers of bovine myometrium. Endocrinology 136:5322-5328.
10. Elfgang C, Eckert R, Lichtenberg-Fraté H, Butterweck A, Traub O, Klein RA, Hülser DF, Willecke K. 1995. Specific permeability and selective formation of gap junction channels in connexin-transfected HeLa cells. J Cell Biol 129:805-817.
11. Garfield RE, Cole WC, Blennerhassett MG. 1989. Gap junctions in uterine smooth muscle. In: Sperelakis N, Cole WC, editors. Cell interaction and gap junctions. Boca Raton: CRC Press, p 239-266.
12. Kilarski WM, Dupont E, Coppen SR, Yeh H-I, Vozzi C, Gourdie RG, Rezapour M, Ulmsten U, Roomans GM, Severs NJ. 1998a. Identification of two further gap-junctional proteins, connexin40 and connexin45, in human myometrial smooth muscle cells at term. Eur J Cell Biol 75:1-8.
13. Kilarski WM, Semik D, Roomans GM, Ulmsten U, Severs NJ. 1998b. Immunohistochemical analysis of connexins 26, 32 and 43 in rat uterus during late pregnancy: lack of connexin26 in myometrium. Histochem J 30:307-316.
14. Ko Y-S, Yeh H-I, Rothery S, Dupont E, Severs NJ. 1998. Simultaneous localization of connexins 40, 37 and 43 in pulmonary artery endothelial gap junctions. In: Werner R, editor. Gap junctions: Proceeding of the 8th International Gap Junction Conference. Amsterdam: ISO Publishers, p 183-187.
15. Ko Y-S, Yeh H-I, Rothery S, Dupont E, Coppen SR, Severs NJ. 1999. Connexin make-up of endothelial gap junctions in the rat pulmonary artery as revealed by immunoconfocal microscopy and triple-label immunogold electron microscopy. J Histochem Cytochem 47:683-692.
16. Koval M, Geist ST, Westphale EM, Kemendy AE, Civitelli R, Beyer EC, Steinberg TH. 1995. Transfected connexin45 alters gap junction permeability in cells expressing endogenous connexin43. J Cell Biol 130:987-995.
17. Kumar NM. 1999. Molecular biology of the interactions between connexins. In: Cardew G, editor. Gap junction-mediated intercellular signalling in health and disease. New York: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. p 6-21.
18. Lye SJ, Nicholson BJ, Mascarenhas M, MacKenzie L, Petrocelli T. 1993. Increased expression of connexin-43 in the rat myometrium during labor is associated with an increase in the plasma estrogen: progesterone ratio. Endocrinology 132:2380-2386.
19. McNutt CM, Nicholson BJ, Lye SJ. 1994. ACTH-induced preterm labour in the ewe is associated with increased mRNA and protein levels of myometrial gap junction protein, connexin-43. J Endocrinol 141:195-202.
20. Moreno AL, Laing JG, Beyer EC, Spray DC. 1995. Properties of gap junction channels formed of connexin 45 endogenously expressed in human hepatoma (SKHep1) cells. Am J Physiol 268:C356-C365.
21. Naus CCG, Hearn S, Zhu D, Nicholson BJ, Shivers RR. 1993. Ultrastructural analysis of gap junctions in C6 glioma cells transfected with connexin43 cDNA. Exp Cell Res 206:72-84.
22. Orsino A, Taylor CV, Lye SJ. 1996. Connexin-26 and connexin-43 are differentially expressed and regulated in the rat myometrium throughout late pregnancy and with the onset of labor. Endocrinology 137:1545-1553.
23. Petrocelli T, Lye SJ. 1993. Regulation of transcripts encoding the myometrial gap junction protein, connexin-43, by estrogen and progesterone. Endocrinology 133:284-290.
24. Rezapour M, Kilarski WM, Severs NJ, Gourdie RG, Rothery S, Bäckström T, Roomans GM, Ulmsten U. 1997. Quantitative immunoconfocal analysis of human myometrial gap junction connexin43 in relation to steroid hormone levels at term labor. Hum Reprod 12: 159-166.
25. Risek B, Guthrie S, Kumar N, Gilula NB. 1990. Modulation of gap junction transcript and protein expression during pregnancy in the rat. J Cell Biol 110:269-282.
26. Sakai N, Tabb T, Garfield RE. 1992. Studies of connexin 43 and cell-to-cell coupling in cultured human uterine smooth muscle. Am J Obstet Gynecol 167:1267-1277.
27. Severs NJ. 1999. Cardiovascular disease. In: Cardew G, editor. Gap junction-mediated intercellular signalling in health and disease. New York: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. p 188-206.
28. Severs NJ. 2000. The cardiac muscle cell. BioEssays 22:188-199.
29. Steiner E, Ebihara L. 1996. Functional characterization of canine connexin45. J Membr Biol 150:153-161.
30. Tabb T, Thilander G, Grover A, Hertzberg E, Garfield R. 1992. An immunochemical and immunocytologic study of the increase in myometrial gap junctions (and connexin 43) in rats and humans during pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol 167:559-567.
31. Vozzi C, Dupont E, Coppen SR, Yeh H-I, Severs NJ. 1999. Chamber-related differences in connexin expression in the human heart. J Mol Cell Cardiol 31:991-1003.
32. White TW, Bruzzone R. 1996. Multiple connexin proteins in single intercellular channels: connexin compatibility and functional consequences. J Bioenerg Biomembr 28:339-350.
33. Yeh H-I, Dupont E, Rothery S, Coppen SR, Severs NJ. 1998. Individual gap junction plaques contain multiple connexins in arterial endothelium. Circ Res 83:1248-1263.