Figure 4.
Pacemaking activity in lymphatic vessels from control (C57BL/6J WT and Cx45fx/fx) and smooth-muscle Cx45-deficient (Smmhc-CreERT2;Cx45fx/fx) mice under control intraluminal pressure (Pupstream = Pdownstream = 2 cmH2O): (A,C) STMs of contractions of popliteal lymphatic vessels recorded over 15 minutes from control and Cx45-deficient animals. Vessel images are aligned to the right sides of the two-dimensional maps; here, valves are indicated with dark arrows. Pacemaking sites are represented by open circles. (B,D) Pacemaking site switching determined after comparing where consecutive contractions were initiated. Comparison is performed one-by-one for all contractions in the STMs shown in A and C. Switching probability (PSwitch) is displayed for each given example.
