The scientists were able to show that toxins produced by bacteria trigger structural changes in intercellular gap junctions, small channels that connect neighbouring cells. Cells exchange chemical and electrical signals via these junctions, which are grouped in plaques.
So-called Vero cells, commercially available fibroblast cell lines from the green monkey, were combined with toxins marked with a fluorescent to make this process visible, and the changes in the gap junctions were studied using fluorescence microsocopy. The structural changes are reversible, as the cells react actively to the cellular stress with repair mechanisms and play an active part in inflammatory processes.
Source: http://idw-online.de/pages/de/news557340
Original publication:
Majoul I, Gao L, Betzig E, Onichtchouk D, Butkevich E, Kozlov Y, Bukauskas F, Bennett MLV, Lippincott-Schwartz J, Duden R. (2013: Fast structural responses of gap junction membrane domains to AB5 toxins. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS), doi: 10.1073/pnas.1315850110
Contact:
Prof. Rainer Duden
Ph.: +49 (0) 451-500-4116
E-mail: duden[at]bio.uni-luebeck.de
Lab website: www.rainer-duden.de
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Sunday, 20 October 2013 19:59
Inflammation research: Gap junctions react to toxins Featured
Scientists at the Cluster of Excellence Inflammation at Interfaces, the Universität zu Lübeck (UzL) and international work groups have for the first time described the active reaction of intercellular channels (gap junctions) to bacterial toxins.
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