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Heptanol-sensitive gap junction communication was characterized by the gap-FRAP method (fluorescence recovery after photobleaching) in confluent rat myoblasts developing in primary culture. Cell to cell dye diffusion was mainly restricted to a short period of the perfusion lag period and disappeared during fusion promotion except between some myoblasts and myotubes. This short period of occurrence of gap junction communication might be transiently and partially involved during the first steps preparing the subsequent fusion, since treatment with an uncoupler (heptanol) reduced the formation of multinucleated myotubes. During subsequent steps, functional gap junctions are not involved between myoblasts in the process of fusing, but a possible secondary involvement for fusion of remaining myoblasts to newly-formed myotubes is discussed. These data, together with results from other authors, suggest a regulatory role of gap junction communication in development and fusion of skeletal muscle cells, by providing a pathway for exchanging small molecules from one myoblast to another.
B Constantin, and
L Cronier, and
G Raymond
December 2005,
Biochimica et biophysica acta,
B Constantin, and
L Cronier, and
G Raymond
January 1997,
Developmental genetics,
B Constantin, and
L Cronier, and
G Raymond
January 1981,
Annual review of physiology,
B Constantin, and
L Cronier, and
G Raymond
December 2012,
Pathologie-biologie,
B Constantin, and
L Cronier, and
G Raymond
December 1997,
The European journal of neuroscience,
B Constantin, and
L Cronier, and
G Raymond
January 1989,
Trends in neurosciences,
B Constantin, and
L Cronier, and
G Raymond
January 2007,
Progress in biophysics and molecular biology,
B Constantin, and
L Cronier, and
G Raymond
June 1998,
Cell biology and toxicology,
B Constantin, and
L Cronier, and
G Raymond
June 1998,
The American journal of physiology,
B Constantin, and
L Cronier, and
G Raymond
August 2009,
Current protocols in toxicology,
