Figure 7.

Cx43-GFP does not inhibit gap junction communication in communication-competent NRK cells. NRK cells expressing high levels of Cx43-GFP at the cell surface (A, green) were comicroinjected with Neurobiotin and rat IgG. Cells were fixed, and the microinjected cell and Neurobiotin transfer were monitored by staining the cells with goat anti-rat IgG conjugated to fluorescein (A and C, green cytoplasm of microinjected cell) and streptavidin Texas Red (B and C, red), respectively. Note that neurobiotin transferred extensively from the microinjected cell to cells that expressed high levels of Cx43-GFP (upper part of C) and to cells that did not express detectable levels of the fusion protein (lower part of C). Note that both Cx43-GFP fluorescence and fluorescein-labeled rat IgG show up in the green channel. Bar, 10 μm.