Internalized gap junctions are degraded by autophagy.

ABSTRACT: Direct intercellular communication mediated by gap junctions (GJs) is a hallmark of normal cell and tissue physiology. In addition, GJs significantly contribute to physical cell-cell adhesion. Clearly, these cellular functions require precise modulation. Typically, GJs represent arrays of hundreds to thousands of densely packed channels, each one assembled from two half-channels (connexons), that dock head-on in the extracellular space to form the channel arrays that link neighboring cells together. Interestingly, docked GJ channels cannot be separated into connexons under physiological conditions, posing potential challenges to GJ channel renewal and physical cell-cell separation. We described previously that cells continuously-and effectively after treatment with natural inflammatory med

SUBMITTER: Fong JT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3378421 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature