Figure 6.

Fasudil increases gap junctional coupling between mesangial cells treated with AngII for 72 h. Coupling incidence (A) and coupling index (B) were evaluated in confluent mesangial cells (black bars) using a dye (Etd⁺, 25 μM) coupling technique, under control conditions or exposed at AngII (10⁻⁷ M) for 72 h. Fasudil (15 µM) was added during the last 24 h of incubation with AngII. Each treatment is denoted below each bar with a plus sign (+). Each bar represents the mean value ± SE of 4 independent experiments. In each experiment the dye was microinjected into at least 10 cells. Statistical significance ** p < 0.01 and *** p < 0.001 vs. Ctrl; ^## p < 0.001 and ^### p < 0.001 vs. AngII. (C) Etd⁺ was microinjected into the brightest cell (arrow) and diffused to neighboring cells. Top panels are the phase contrast images and bottom panels show Etd⁺ fluorescence in cells under different treatments. Scale bar = 20 μm.