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. 2020 Sep 25;11:4855. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18634-y

Fig. 5. ACKR3 activation promotes Cx43 internalization.

Fig. 5

Time-lapse images of gap junction plaques in HEK293T cells co-expressing Cx43-GFP and RedCherry-ACKR3 and exposed to CXCL12 (10 nM) for 30 min. The two upper images show GFP (Cx43, left panel) and RedCherry (ACKR3, right panel) fluorescence signals, respectively, before the onset of chemokine application. Images below show Cx43-GFP fluorescence at the times indicated. A zoomed image of a Cx43-GFP plaque is illustrated at 0, 20 and 30 min in the left bottom corner of the image. The arrows show the removal of the plaque and the arrowheads Cx43-GFP vesicle budding. The decrease in Cx43-GFP fluorescence was not due to photobleaching, as CXCL12 exposure did not induce the removal of a gap junction plaque located at the interface of cells that do not express ACKR3 (*). Scale bars = 10 and 1 μm for time-lapse and magnified pictures, respectively. See the Statistics and Reproducibility section for the number of repetitions.