10.18453/rosdok_id00001457
Lemcke, Heiko
Heiko
Lemcke
http://d-nb.info/gnd/1049755472
The role of gap junctional intercellular communication and connexins in the differentiation of human neural progenitor cells
Universität Rostock
2015
610 Medical sciences Medicine
570 Life science
2015
en
http://purl.uni-rostock.de/rosdok/id00001457
urn:nbn:de:gbv:28-diss2015-0007-1
Our findings provide a dual function of connexin43 (Cx43) and gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) in the neural development of human progenitor cells. 1) GJIC accompanied by high Cx43 expression is necessary to maintain cells in a proliferative state by mediating the mitogenic effects of growth factors. 2) GJIC is required to complete neuronal differentiation, including the establishment of a neural network. However, uncoupling of cells is crucial in the early stage of differentiation during cell fate commitment. Further, we showed that Cx43 regulates neuronal cell-fate.