Cx43 gap junction gene expression and gap junctional communication in mouse neural crest cells

Although gap junctions are not known to be important in mediating cell‐cell interactions amongst migratory cells, our studies showed that the connexin 43 (Cx43) gap junction gene is widely expressed in mouse neural crest cell lineages. Using in situ hybridization analysis, Cx43 expression was detect...

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Published in:	Developmental genetics Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 119 - 132
Main Authors:	Lo, Cecilia W., Cohen, Matthew F., Huang, Guo-Ying, Lazatin, Bien O., Patel, Neha, Sullivan, Ruth, Pauken, Christine, Park, S.M.J.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 1997
Subjects:	Animals Cell Communication Connexin 43 - genetics Connexin 43 - metabolism Cx43 Ectoderm - metabolism Female gap junctions Gap Junctions - physiology Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental In Situ Hybridization Male Mice Mice, Transgenic mouse embryo Neural Crest - metabolism neural crest cells neural tube promoter Promoter Regions, Genetic transgenic β-galactosidase
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Summary:	Although gap junctions are not known to be important in mediating cell‐cell interactions amongst migratory cells, our studies showed that the connexin 43 (Cx43) gap junction gene is widely expressed in mouse neural crest cell lineages. Using in situ hybridization analysis, Cx43 expression was detected in presumptive neural crest cells emerging from the neural folds of the early postimplantation embryo. Neural crest expression of the Cx43 gap junction gene was also indicated by the analysis of transgenic mice containing a lacZ reporter construct driven by the Cx43 promoter. In neural tube explant cultures of these transgenic mice, lacZ expression was observed in the emerging neural crest outgrowths. Whole mount X‐gal staining of these transgenic embryos at various stages of development showed lacZ expression in neural crest cells distributed along the entire craniocaudal axis, with expression found in both cranial and trunk neural crest cells contributing to a wide range of embryonic tissues. This included presumptive cardiac neural crest cells localized in the heart. In light of the widespread expression of Cx43 in neural crest cell lineages, dye injection studies were carried out to determine if neural crest cells are functionally coupled via gap junctions. Such studies revealed extensive dye coupling among presumptive neural crest cells, thus demonstrating that these migratory cells are indeed gap junctional communication competent. In total, these observations suggest that gap junctions may play a role in mouse neural crest development. This possibility is particularly intriguing given the recent finding that the Cx43 knockout mice die of defects associated with the outflow tract [Reaume et al., 1995], a region of the heart in which neural crest cells are required for normal development. Dev. Genet. 20: 119–132, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Bibliography:	NSF - No. DCB 6886 ArticleID:DVG5 ark:/67375/WNG-3D7BHPZ0-S NIH - No. HD 29573 istex:8FC95C54A88CEAAE45D458AFA500C175A30DFECD ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:	0192-253X 1520-6408
DOI:	10.1002/(SICI)1520-6408(1997)20:2<119::AID-DVG5>3.0.CO;2-A