Figure 4.

The channel-building part of Cx43 mediates enhanced apoptosis. SN-induced apoptosis (1 μM, 16 h) of HeLa cells expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP)-labelled Cx43 or truncated Cx43 proteins was determined by caspase activation. SN-induced apoptosis of HeLa cells expressing full-length Cx43 (Cx43-GFP) or the channel-building part of Cx43 (Cx43NT-GFP) was significantly enhanced compared with cells expressing the cytoplasmic part of Cx43 (Cx43CT-GFP). RFUs indicating activation of caspases in apoptotic cells are depicted as mean±S.E.M.; *P<0.05 versus Cx43CT-GFP, NG; n≥3 in different cell cultures