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Gap junctions were first described as close appositions as other tight junctions, but following electron microscopy studies in 1967, they were renamed gap junctions to distinguish them from tight junctions. [2] They bridge a 2-4 nm gap between cell membranes. [3] Gap junctions use protein complexes known as connexons to
This gene encodes a gap junction protein. The encoded protein is known as a connexin, most of which form gap junctions that provide direct connections between neighboring cells. [5] However, Cx29, which is highly expressed in myelin-forming glial cells of the CNS and PNS, has not been documented to form gap junctions in any cell type.
Gap junctions were first characterized by electron microscopy as regionally specialized structures on plasma membranes of contacting adherent cells. These structures were shown to consist of cell-to-cell channels. Proteins, called connexins, purified from fractions of enriched gap junctions from different tissues differ. The connexins are ...
A gap junction modulator is a compound or agent that either facilitates or inhibits the transfer of small molecules between biological cells by regulating gap junctions. [1] Various physiological processes including cardiac , neural or auditory , depend on gap junctions to perform crucial regulatory roles, and the modulators themselves are the ...
An electrical synapse is an electrically conductive link between two abutting neurons that is formed at a narrow gap between the pre- and postsynaptic cells, known as a gap junction. At gap junctions, cells approach within about 3.5 nm of each other, rather than the 20 to 40 nm distance that separates cells at chemical synapses.
Each gap junction (sometimes called a nexus) contains numerous gap junction channels that cross the plasma membranes of both cells. [11] With a lumen diameter of about 1.2 to 2.0 nm, [2] [12] the pore of a gap junction channel is wide enough to allow ions and even medium-size molecules like signaling molecules to flow from one cell to the next, [2] [13] thereby connecting the two cells' cytoplasm.
The endocrine-FS cell gap junctions, alongside the FS-FS gap junctions form a cell network that allows information about the physiological environment to be transferred around the pituitary to coordinate its secretory function. [11] Studies in various small mammals have demonstrated that the number of gap junctions is influenced by several ...
Gap junctions play an important regulatory role in various physiological processes including signal propagation in cardiac muscles and tissue homeostasis of the liver. Modulation is required, since gap junctions must respond to their environment, whether through an increased expression or permeability.