FIGURE 1.

(A–D) Connexin expression increases migratory phenotype. (A,B) Confluent cultures of C6 and C6-13 cells underwent procedures for scrape-wound with representative images captured at T = 0 h. (C,D) At T = 24 h, in the presence of FBS, both C6 and C6-13 cells resulted in complete closures of the wound. Differences in cell density and morphology are noted. C6-13 cells are elongated, even within the unscraped regions that indicated their movement into the newly created space. Under the same conditions, this greatly contrasted C6 cells that appeared small and compact. (E,F) To differentiate effects of migration from cell proliferation, C6 and C6-13 cells were monitored in the absence of growth factors contained within FBS. Full recovery was only observed for C6-13, but not for C6. The white lines represent the limits of the original scrape. Cells were fixed with methanol and stained with crystal violet. Bar: 250 μm. (G,H) Cell migration monitored T = 4 and T = 8 h in the absence of FBS ± conditioned media (CM) from alternate cell type. Migration of C6 cells was less than C6-13 cells at both 4 and 8 h. C6 exposed to C6-13 conditioned media increase migration to levels similar to C6-13. C6-13 cell were not impacted by C6 conditioned media. Results are shown from three different sets of experiments, encompassing 6 scrapes and 18 measurements. Distance values were expressed as a mean value, with error bars representing the (±) standard error of the mean. Significance levels: ^∗∗∗p ≤ 0.001.