1. Connexin 43 hyper-phosphorylation at serine 282 triggers apoptosis in rat cardiomyocytes via activation of mitochondrial apoptotic pathway
- Author
-
Zhi-Ping, Fu, Lu-Lin, Wu, Jing-Yi, Xue, Lan-E, Zhang, Chen, Li, Hong-Jie, You, and Da-Li, Luo
- Subjects
Pharmacology ,Connexin 43 ,Serine ,Animals ,Apoptosis ,Myocytes, Cardiac ,Pharmacology (medical) ,General Medicine ,Phosphorylation ,Mitochondria ,Rats - Abstract
Cx43 is the major connexin in ventricular gap junctions, and plays a pivotal role in control of electrical and metabolic communication among adjacent cardiomyocytes. We previously found that Cx43 dephosphorylation at serine 282 (pS282) caused cardiomyocyte apoptosis, which is involved in cardiac ischemia/reperfusion injury. In this study we investigated whether Cx43-S282 hyper-phosphorylation could protect cardiomyocytes against apoptosis. Adenovirus carrying rat full length Cx43 gene (Cx43-wt) or a mutant gene at S282 substituted with aspartic acid (S282D) were transfected into neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs) or injected into rat ventricular wall. Rat abdominal aorta constriction model (AAC) was used to assess Cx43-S282 phosphorylation status. We showed that Cx43 phosphorylation at S282 was increased over 2-times compared to Cx43-wt cells at 24 h after transfection, while pS262 and pS368 were unaltered. S282D-transfected cells displayed enhanced gap junctional communication, and increased basal intracellular Ca
- Published
- 2021