Connexins regulate calcium signaling by controlling ATP release

作者：Maria Luisa Cotrina, Jane H.-C. Lin, Alexandra Alves‐Rodrigues, Shujun Liu, Jiang Li, Hooman Azmi‐Ghadimi, Jian Kang, Christian C. G. Naus, Maiken Nedergaard · 发表于：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 年份：1998 · DOI：10.1073/pnas.95.26.15735 · 被引用次数：774 · 研究领域：Connexins and lens biology、Neuroscience of respiration and sleep、Adenosine and Purinergic Signaling

Forced expression of gap junction proteins, connexins, enables gap junction-deficient cell lines to propagate intercellular calcium waves. Here, we show that ATP secretion from the poorly coupled cell lines, C6 glioma, HeLa, and U373 glioblastoma, is potentiated 5- to 15-fold by connexin expression. ATP release required purinergic receptor-activated intracellular Ca2+ mobilization and was inhibited by Cl- channel blockers. Calcium wave propagation also was reduced by purinergic receptor antagonists and by Cl- channel blockers but insensitive to gap junction inhibitors. These observations suggest that cell-to-cell signaling associated with connexin expression results from enhanced ATP release and not, as previously believed, from an increase in intercellular coupling.