Ordered Assembly of the Adhesive and Electrochemical Connections within Newly Formed Intercalated Disks in Primary Cultures of Adult Rat Cardiomyocytes
Figure 7
Connexin43 localization to cell-cell contact domains follows adhesion complex assembly. ARCs at 5 days post plating were immunolabeled for Cx43 (green: (a, b); red: (c, d)) and PKP2 (red: (a, b); green: (c, d)). Early in the assembly and organization of cell-cell contacts in ARCs in primary culture, adhesive sites do not contain appreciable amounts of Cx43 (green: (a, b); red: (c, d)). (a) Connexin43 localization to newly formed adhesive contacts as identified by PKP2 immunostaining. Note the subsarcolemmal accumulation of connexons at the apices of the interdigitized contacts (arrowheads). (b) High magnification image of newly formed contact with subsarcolemmal accumulation of connexons prior to insertion into the membrane. (c, d) Low and higher magnification images of subsarcolemmal accumulation of connexons (arrowheads) prior to their insertion into the membrane. Note the regions of overlap of PKP2 and Cx43 immunolabeling indicating areas of mature gap junctions within the adhesive domains (arrow). Also, note that the Cx43 inserts into the membrane preferentially at adhesive sites (a, d). Scale bars are 10 m (a, c) and 5 m (b, d).
