| First Author | Moennikes O | Year | 2000 |
| Journal | Hepatology | Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 3 | Pages | 501-6 |
| PubMed ID | 10960441 | Mgi Jnum | J:64617 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:1889709 | Doi | 10.1053/jhep.2000.16598 |
| Citation | Moennikes O, et al. (2000) Hepatocarcinogenesis in female mice with mosaic expression of connexin32. Hepatology 32(3):501-6 |
| abstractText | Mice deficient for connexin32 (Cx32), the major gap junction forming protein in liver, are highly susceptible to hepatocarcinogenesis. Because the Cx32 gene is located on the X-chromosome, heterozygous females show mosaicism with respect to Cx32 expression; this enables their use in studying the effect of Cx32-deficiency in a mixed Cx32-plus/Cx32-minus environment in vivo. Female C3H/He mice (Cx32(+/+)) were crossed with Cx32-deficient C57BL/129Sv males (Cx32(Y/-)) to yield F1 females heterozygous with respect to Cx32 (Cx32(+/-)). Patches of hepatocytes were observed in normal liver that either expressed Cx32 or failed to express the protein. The mean fraction of Cx32-negative tissue in liver was about 60% and did not change significantly with age of mice. Neoplastic liver lesions, induced in weanling mice, were identified in serial liver sections by their deficiency in glucose-6-phosphatase staining. Parallel sections were used for immunohisto- chemical demonstration of Cx32 protein. Smaller lesions were either homogeneously Cx32-negative or showed unchanged to slightly elevated levels of Cx32 protein. There were no major differences in number and size distribution between lesions of these 2 phenotypes. In addition, larger lesions were mostly Cx32-negative but often contained embedded patches of Cx32-positive cells. Staining for the proliferation-associated nuclear antigen Ki-67 did not reveal significant differences between Cx32-negative and Cx32-positive hepatocytes in Cx32-mosaic tumors. This suggests that expression of Cx32 within a subpopulation of tumor cells does not negatively regulate their growth nor does it seem to affect the proliferation of their directly neighboring Cx32-negative counterparts. |
