Figure 8. CO₂-dependent gating of Cx26 in isolated patches.

A, no changes in channel gating in response to an increase in to 70 mmHg (bar) were seen in patches drawn from wild-type cells. B, patches drawn from Cx26-expressing cells demonstrated a reversible increase in channel openings in response to an increase in to 70 mmHg (bar). Expanded traces from before during and after the CO₂ stimulus shown below. C, reversible reduction of channel gating in response to a decrease of to 20 mmHg (grey bar). Expanded traces from before during and after the CO₂ reduction shown below. D, summary graph showing the reversible change in the current integral recorded from the membrane patches drawn from Cx26-expressing cells in response to increases (black, hyper, n = 8) and decreases (grey, hypo, n = 7) of . The changes are highly significant (Friedman's two way ANOVA). The black trace shows the lack of any change in the current intregral for patches drawn from wild-type cells (increase of , n = 10). E, increase in channel gating of Cx26 in an inside out membrane patch in response to increasing to 70 mmHg (bar). A small conductance outward current was present in this patch (downward deflections below baseline).