Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Recording Gap Junction Current from Xenopus Oocytes
Published on: January 21, 2022
Cx32 and Cx47 mediate oligodendrocyte:astrocyte and oligodendrocyte:oligodendrocyte gap junction coupling
Sameh K Wasseff1, Steven S Scherer
1Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104–6077, USA. swasseff@mail.med.upenn.edu
Abstract:
In addition to the extensive gap junction coupling between astrocytes themselves, oligodendrocytes are thought to be exclusively coupled to astrocytes (O:A coupling) via heterotypic gap junctions composed of Cx47:Cx43 and Cx32:Cx30. We used fluorescent dyes to examine functional coupling in acute slices from the cerebra of mice lacking Cx32 and/or Cx47. In the corpus callosum, unexpectedly, oligodendrocytes appeared to be directly and exclusively coupled to other oligodendrocytes (O:O coupling), and electron microscopy revealed gap junctions between adjacent oligodendrocytes. O:O coupling was more affected in mice lacking Cx32 than in mice lacking Cx47. In the neocortex, oligodendrocytes appeared to be directly and exclusively coupled to astrocytes; Cx47, but not Cx32, was required for O:A coupling.
Related Concept Videos
Gap Junctions
Gap Junctions
Contact-dependent Signaling
Gap Junctions
In animal cells, gap junctions are formed...
Overview of Cell-Cell Junctions
Occluding or Tight Junctions
Tight...
Overview of Cell-Matrix Interactions
Tight Junctions

