Fig. 3. Transfer of Lucifer Yellow or neurobiotin between primary islet cells depends on the connexin isoform. (A) Individual islet cells of monolayer clusters were microinjected with 5% Lucifer Yellow. Microinjections resulted in an intercellular transfer of the tracer that was limited between wild-type uninfected cells and cells transduced for Cx36. By contrast, this transfer was much larger between cells transduced for either Cx43 or Cx32. Asterisks indicate the injected cell. Bar, 20 µm. Bars show the extent of Lucifer Yellow transfer. Data are expressed as the percentage of cells showing no coupling (0) or transfer of the dye from the injected cell to first (1^st) or third and more order of neighbours (3^rd). Data from three experiments were pooled. (B) Individual islet cells of monolayer clusters were also microinjected with 5% neurobiotin and the tracer was detected by FITC-streptavidin staining. Transfer of neurobiotin was restricted between wild-type uninfected cells but extended through several orders of adjacent cells after transduction of a vector coding for either Cx36 or Cx43. Asterisks indicate the injected cell. Bar, 20 µm. Bars show the extent of neurobiotin transfer. Data are expressed as the percentage of cells showing no coupling (0) or transfer of the dye from the injected cell to first (1^st) or third and more orders of neighbours (3^rd). Data from three experiments were pooled.

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