Review
Gap junctions in the brain: where, what type, how many and why?

https://doi.org/10.1016/0166-2236(93)90151-BGet rights and content

Abstract

Gap junctions represent well-documented means of intercellular communication in various tissues, including the brain, where they function as portals allowing the exchange of electrolytes, second messengers and metabolites between cells. In view of the enormous recent surge of information dealing with the cellular and molecular biology of gap junctions in non-nervous tissue, as well as current interest in the cell biology of glia, this review is intended to provide an overview of the molecular and functional implications of gap-junction-mediated intercellular communication in the nervous system.

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      The relatively late discovery of Cx36 was much to the consternation of those of us seeking to study connexins localized at neuronal gap junctions, having examined its thirteen predecessors for such localization. Further, many other connexins, either based on detection of their mRNAs or their proteins, had (erroneously) been ascribed to neurons, including Cx26 [115], Cx32 [115–121], Cx47 [122], or a combination of Cx26, Cx37, Cx40, and Cx43 [123–125]; but none of those connexin proteins were confirmed to be present by their detection in ultrastructurally-defined gap junctions [109–111] that simultaneously were found to contain Cx36 (with or without Cx45). Detection of connexin mRNAs without detection of the corresponding protein was later proposed, but not as yet demonstrated, to result from active suppression of translation of specific mRNAs into protein by newly-discovered micro interfering RNA (miRNA) mechanisms present in mammalian CNS neurons vs. glia ([126,127], as discussed in [128]).

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