Fig. 3.

Cell to cell spread of apoptotic stimuli during HIV infection via GJs and HCs. a) GJ channels (in red), composed mainly of Cx43, remain expressed and open during HIV infection resulting in the transfer of toxic or apoptotic signal to uninfected cells resulting in apoptosis. Surprisingly, HIV-infected cells survive apoptosis generating viral reservoirs within the CNS. b) HCs (in blue), composed by Cx or Panx-1, allow the release of ATP into extracellular media and activate purinergic receptor in the targeted cell to facilitate HIV entry and infection but also ATP diffuse to surrounding uninfected cells to promote inflammation.