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Related Concept Videos

Gap Junctions01:37

Gap Junctions

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Multicellular organisms employ a variety of ways for cells to communicate with each other. Gap junctions are specialized proteins that form pores between neighboring cells in animals, connecting the cytoplasm between the two, and allowing for the exchange of molecules and ions. They are found in a wide range of invertebrate and vertebrate species, mediate numerous functions including cell differentiation and development, and are associated with numerous human diseases, including cardiac and...
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Bystander Effect02:09

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The discussion of bullying highlights the problem of witnesses not intervening to help a victim. This is a common occurrence, as the following well-publicized event demonstrates. In 1964, in Queens, New York, a 19-year-old woman named Kitty Genovese was attacked by a person with a knife near the back entrance to her apartment building and again in the hallway inside her apartment building. When the attack occurred, she screamed for help numerous times and eventually died from her stab wounds.
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Gap Junctions01:27

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The cytoplasm of adjacent animal cells can exchange small molecules, ions, and secondary messengers via the communication channels which form the gap junctions. These junctions comprise a few hundred to thousands of molecular channels, each made of two halves, called the connexon hemichannel. A connexon is a hexamer of six transmembrane connexin proteins, which assemble radially, thus forming a pore or channel in the center. One connexon hemichannel docks with a corresponding connexon on the...
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Autophagic Cell Death01:18

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Christian de Duve discovered “autophagy,” a process in which cellular components are engulfed by membrane-bound organelles called autophagosomes. The autophagosomes then fuse with lysosomes to digest the enclosed contents. Autophagy is generally activated in cells to prevent cell death. However, cell death is triggered when the damage is beyond repair.
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Overview of Cell Death01:30

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Cell death is an essential process where the body gets rid of old or damaged cells. Cell proliferation and death need to be balanced, as an imbalance between the two may lead to cancer or autoimmune diseases.
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Overview of Cell-Cell Junctions01:14

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The complex three-dimensional arrangement of cells in any multicellular organism is defined and maintained by interactions of cells with each other and the extracellular matrix. Cell-cell junctions are specialized structures where the multi-protein complexes on one cell interact with the multi-protein complexes on another  cell. These cell junctions are classified  into three main types based on their function — occluding, anchoring, and gap junctions.
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Recording Gap Junction Current from Xenopus Oocytes
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Gap junctions mediate bystander cell death in developing retina.

Karen Cusato1, Alejandra Bosco, Renato Rozental

  • 1Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA. kcusato@aecom.yu.edu

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience
|July 25, 2003
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Dying retinal cells cluster together, and gap junctions transmit death signals to neighboring cells. This programmed cell death, or bystander killing, influences nervous system development and disease.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Biology
  • Cell Biology

Background:

  • Programmed cell death is crucial for retinal development, regulating cell numbers and layers.
  • Dying cells in the developing retina exhibit spatial clustering.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of gap junctions in programmed cell death during retinal development.
  • To determine if dying cells can induce apoptosis in neighboring cells (bystander killing).

Main Methods:

  • Inducing targeted cell death using intracellular cytochrome c (Cc).
  • Using gap junction inhibitors (octanol, carbenoxolone) to assess their effect on cell death.
  • Quantifying pyknotic cells and analyzing apoptotic morphology in scrape-loaded retinas.

Main Results:

  • Dying cells in the developing retina are spatially clustered.
  • Gap junction inhibitors significantly reduced this clustering.
  • Induced cell death via Cc led to significant bystander killing in neighboring, unlabeled cells.
  • Bystander killing was reduced by gap junction inhibitors.

Conclusions:

  • Dying retinal cells release a gap junction-permeant signal that induces bystander cell death.
  • This mechanism of naturally occurring bystander cell death has implications for nervous system development and pathology.