J P Revel

and significant findings of immediate interest and judged to be acceptable without major revision, will be published within appro~mately three months. See inside back cover for details.

Zonulae occludentes and gap junctions were examined both in the intact mouse liver and in a junction-rich membrane fraction from homogenized mouse liver. These preparations were visualized with the techniques of uranyl acetate staining en bloc, staining with colloidal lanthanum, negative staining with phosphotungstate, and freeze-cleaving. The zonula occludens is arranged as a meshwork of branching and anastomosing threadlike contacts sealing the lumen of the bile canaliculus from the liver intercellular space. The gap junction is characterized in section by a 20 A gap between the apposed junctional membrane outer leaflets, and permeation of this space with lanthanum or phosphotungstate reveals a polygonal lattice of subunits with a center-to-center spacing of 90-100 A. Freeze-cleaved gap junctions show a similar lattice. Extraction of junction-rich fractions with 60% aqueous acetone results in a disappearance of the 20 A gap in sectioned pellets and an inability to demonstrate the polygonal lattice with either the freeze-cleave or negative staining techniques. Extraction of the membranes with 50% acetone does not produce this effect. Thin-layer chromatography of the acetone extracts reveals a group of phospholipids in the 60% extract that are not detectable in the 50% extract. Acetone does not cause any detectable change in the structure of the zonula occludens, but the occluding junction becomes leaky to lanthanum following acetone treatment. The effects of other reagents on the junctions are reported.

Cultured cardiomyocytes were used to study the turnover and post-translational modification of connexin43 (Cx43), a major gap junction protein in neonatal cardiac myocytes. Immunoprecipitation of [35S]Met-labelled lysates with anti-Cx43 antibodies followed by analysis using SDS/PAGE and fluorography revealed two bands, one at 40 kDa and the other at 42 kDa. Alkaline phosphatase treatment of [35S]Met-labelled Cx43 eliminated the band at 42 kDa, suggesting that it represented a phosphorylated form of the protein. This was confirmed by [32P]P1 incorporation into the 42 kDa band, but not into the band at 40 kDa. In addition, another alkaline phosphatase-sensitive phosphorylated form of Cx43 was identified at 44 kDa. In pulse-chase experiments, the half-life of Cx43 in cardiomyocytes was determined to be 1-2 h. Furthermore, the turnover rate of phosphate groups on Cx43 was found to be experimentally defined by the half-life of the protein. The observation that phosphate groups can remain with the protein throughout its life is consistent with the finding that in isolated adult rat heart gap junction plaques, Cx43 is primarily phosphorylated. We postulate that the rapid turnover of Cx43 and its multiple sites of phosphorylation play important roles in the regulation of cell-cell communication via gap junctions.

The electron microscopic appearance of glycogen has been studied in the organs of several animal species. Glycogen almost always appears as roughly circular granules from 150 to 400 A in diameter. The intrinsic electron density of glycogen varies from tissue to tissue; however, treatment with lead hydroxide as described by Watson deeply stains the granules. Glycogen pellets were isolated from some of the tissues studied by centrifugation. Such pellets were shown to be glycogen by chemical and histochemical criteria. When thin sections of the pellet are examined under the electron microscope they can be seen to consist of densely packed granules similar to those found in the intact tissues. Such pellets are also stained for electron microscopy by short exposure to lead hydroxide.