Dye and electric coupling between osteoblast-like cells in culture

Primary cultures of osteoblast-like cells (OB) derived from calvarial fragments of newborn rats and juvenile guinea pigs formed numerous gap junctions between neighboring cells in vitro. Intracellular injection of Lucifer yellow led to a staining of up to 30 adjacent cells. Parallel intracellular re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Calcified tissue international 1993-07, Vol.53 (1), p.53-60
Main Authors: SCHIRRMACHER, K, BRÜMMER, F, DÜSING, R, BINGMANN, D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
1-Octanol
Animals
Anticonvulsants - pharmacology
Biological and medical sciences
Calcium - metabolism
Cell Communication - drug effects
Cell interactions, adhesion
Cells, Cultured
Cyclic AMP - pharmacology
Cyclic GMP - pharmacology
Electrophysiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Guinea Pigs
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Intercellular Junctions - drug effects
Intercellular Junctions - physiology
Isoquinolines - metabolism
Membrane Potentials - physiology
Molecular and cellular biology
Octanols - pharmacology
Osteoblasts - cytology
Osteoblasts - drug effects
Osteoblasts - physiology
Rats
Staining and Labeling
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Summary:Primary cultures of osteoblast-like cells (OB) derived from calvarial fragments of newborn rats and juvenile guinea pigs formed numerous gap junctions between neighboring cells in vitro. Intracellular injection of Lucifer yellow led to a staining of up to 30 adjacent cells. Parallel intracellular recordings showed that amplitudes of stimulated membrane potential changes (4-5 mV) were closely related between coupled cells. The coupling factor, which was derived from the ratio of these amplitudes, ranged between 0.1 and 0.8. The coupling factor (1) was not dependent on the membrane potential or the injected current strength; (2) strong acidosis (pH < 6.6) and hypercapnia (pCO2 > 80 mm Hg) did not affect electric or dye coupling; (3) elevation of intracellular cAMP level was ineffective; (4) rise of the extra- and intracellular Ca2+ concentration did not effect the electric coupling; (5) the anticonvulsant drugs carbamazepine and phenytoin impaired the coupling factor up to 59%. The findings show that cell-cell communication between OB via gap junctions proved stable under various conditions which, in other tissues, were found to reduce the coupling strength of gap junctions.
ISSN:0171-967X
1432-0827
DOI:10.1007/BF01352015