Figure 5.
Voltage dependence of the transjunctional currents Ij, recorded from fibroblast and myofibroblast pairs in the absence or presence of PRP. (A–F) Transjunctional current values normalized for cell capacitance (in pA/pF), recorded from all of the fibroblast pairs cultured in proliferation medium (PM, continuous line, n = 6), and in differentiation medium (DM) for 48 h (n = 9) and 72 h (n = 8) plotted versus Vj. Panels A, C, and E show the Ij,inst values whereas panels B, D, and F show the Ij,ss values. Note that the plots related to DM show different slopes. (C,D) Comparison between Ij-Vj plot obtained from cell pairs cultured in DM for 48 h (open symbols, n = 9) and from cell pairs cultured in DM + PRP for 48 h (filled symbols, n = 9). Adding PRP to the culture medium for 48 h, altered the Ij voltage dependence, causing an almost complete linearity with voltage both for Ij,inst and Ij,ss. (E,F) Ij-Vj plots related to 72 h treatments. The presence of PRP in DM for 72 h (DM + PRP 72 h, filled symbols, n = 14), strongly reduced the mean normalized current amplitude observed in DM 72 h (open symbols, n = 8) and altered the Ij voltage dependence, causing an almost complete linearity with voltage both for Ij,inst and Ij,ss. All values represent mean ± S.E.M. * p < 0.05 (unpaired Student’s t-test).