title: Retinoic acid modulates gap junctional intercellular communication in hepatocytes and hepatoma cells.
abstract: Gap junctional communication permits the direct exchange of small molecules and ions and has been implicated in tissue homeostasis/metabolite exchange. The lack of gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) plays important roles in the promotion and progression of carcinogenesis. In the present study, we demonstrate that treatment of human hepatoma Hep G2 cells with retinoic acid (RA) results in increased amounts and phosphorylation of connexins, their stabilisation in plasma membrane plaques and enhanced GJIC. In cultured fetal hepatocytes, which represent a non-transformed, proliferating and incompletely differentiated liver system, the effects of RA are limited to the establishment of connexin in areas of cell-cell contact and the improvement of GJIC. This suggests that modulation of cell-cell channel communication by RA occurs differently in these two experimental models: while RA is able to revert cell transformation in Hep G2 cells, in fetal hepatocytes it may induce the expression of a more differentiated phenotype.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia di Base ed Applicata, Facoltà di Scienze, Università de L'Aquila, Via Vetoio, 67010, Coppito AQ, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ara
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Massimi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Devirgiliis Conti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000473:pathology*; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D017629:Gap Junctions / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D005865:Gestational Age; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000196:embryology*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms; D010766:Phosphorylation; D010768:Phosphoserine / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D010768:Phosphoserine; D014212:Tretinoin