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Related Experiment Videos

Structure of rapidly frozen gap junctions

E Raviola, D A Goodenough, G Raviola

    The Journal of Cell Biology
    |October 1, 1980
    PubMed
    Summary

    Rapid freezing reveals diverse gap junction structures in living tissues. Environmental changes like anoxia can cause irreversible connexon crystallization, suggesting a long-term response.

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    Area of Science:

    • Cell Biology
    • Biophysics

    Background:

    • Gap junctions mediate cell-to-cell communication.
    • Their structure in living tissues remains incompletely understood due to fixation artifacts.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To investigate the in vivo structure of gap junctions in various mammalian tissues.
    • To examine the effects of environmental stressors on gap junction morphology.

    Main Methods:

    • Utilized rapid freeze-fracture electron microscopy on living tissues (rabbit ciliary epithelium, corneal endothelium; mouse stomach, liver).
    • Applied experimental anoxia and lowered pH to assess structural changes.

    Main Results:

    • Observed diverse gap junction arrangements (random, crystalline, packed) in different tissues.
    • Anoxia and low pH induced connexon crystallization within 20-30 minutes.
    • Crystallization effects were irreversible in ciliary epithelium under prolonged stress.
    • Invaginated and annular gap junctions showed random connexon distribution.

    Conclusions:

    • Rapid freezing preserves in vivo gap junction pleiomorphism, explaining fixation-dependent variations.
    • Connexon crystallization is a slow, irreversible process, likely a long-term consequence of stress, not immediate high-resistance states.

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