Fig. 2.

The IL domain of Cx50 is crucial for the interaction with AQP0 in the differentiating lens fibers. Recombinant retroviruses containing Cx50, Cx43, Cx50*46L, Cx50*43L, Cx43*50L or Cx43*46L were microinjected into chick lens vesicle at stage 18. The injected lenses were dissected out at embryonic day 18 and cryosections of the embedded chick lenses were immunolabeled with antibody against FLAG (green) or against AQP0 (red). The primary antibodies were detected by fluorescein-conjugated anti-mouse IgG for anti-FLAG antibody and Rhodamine-conjugated anti-rabbit IgG for anti-AQP0 antibody. Immunostaining was visualized by confocal fluorescence microscopy. The corresponding merged images (Merged) are shown on the right. Colocalization coefficients between exogenous connexins and endogenous AQP0 were measured on the confocal images by using NIH ImageJ software with the Intensity Correlation Analysis plugin. The data are presented below as mean ± s.e.m. (n=6). (***P<0.001 compared with Cx43).