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Updated: Mar 21, 2026

Perturbing Endothelial Biomechanics via Connexin 43 Structural Disruption
Published on: October 4, 2019
Absence of connexin43 and connexin45 does not disturb pre- and peri-implantation development
Kiyomasa Nishii1, Yasushi Kobayashi1, Yosaburo Shibata2
1Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology,National Defense Medical College,3-2 Namiki,Tokorozawa,Saitama 359-8513,Japan.
Abstract:
Gap junctional intercellular communication is assumed to play an important role during pre- and peri-implantation development. In this study, we eliminated connexin43 (Cx43) and connexin45 (Cx45), major gap junctional proteins in the pre- and peri-implantation embryo. We generated Cx43 -/- Cx45 -/- embryos by Cx43 +/- Cx45 +/- intercrossing, because mice deficient in Cx43 (Cx43 -/-) exhibit perinatal lethality and those deficient in Cx45 (Cx45 -/-) exhibit early embryonic lethality. Wild-type, Cx43 -/-, Cx45 -/-, and Cx43 -/- Cx45 -/- blastocysts all showed similar outgrowths in in vitro culture. Moreover, Cx43 -/- Cx45 -/- embryos were obtained at the expected Mendelian ratio up to embryonic day 9.5, when the Cx45 -/- mutation proved lethal. The Cx43 -/- Cx45 -/- embryos seemed to have no additional developmental abnormalities in comparison with the single knockout strains. Thus, pre- and peri-implantation development does not require Cx43 and Cx45. Other gap junctional proteins are expressed around these stages and these may compensate for the lack of Cx43 and Cx45.
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