[The correlation between gap junction-mediated communication and cell proliferation among retinal pigment epithelial cells].
I investigated gap junction-mediated intercellular communication during cell proliferation of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) following experimental retinal tear formation in albino rabbit eyes. I used a dye-coupling method with lucifer yellow CH. I also evaluated the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in the RPE cells. Immediately after tear formation, lucifer yellow CH introduced into a target RPE cell appeared in neighboring cells. The number of dye-recipient cells was 33.8 +/- 4.7 (mean +/- standard error of the mean). One week later, the number of fluorescent RPE cells decreased to 2.3 +/- 0.9. The extent of dye transfer between RPE cells increased (17.5 +/- 4.1). There was no expression of PCNA in RPE cells immediately after tear formation, but it became apparent as the nuclei of RPE cells became positive for PCNA. The immunoreactive cells and cell population decreased one mouth later. Because the duration of decreased dye-coupling coincides with that of cell proliferation, these finding suggest that an alteration of gap junctional intercellular communication is involved in RPE cell proliferation in the present experimental setup.
Yamori
Y
Y
Department of Ophthalmology, Osaka City University School of Medicine, Japan.
D000818:Animals; D002450:Cell Communication; D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology; D017629:Gap Junctions / Q000502:physiology*; D010857:Pigment Epithelium of Eye / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen / Q000032:analysis; D011817:Rabbits
D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen