Analysis of Connexins and Pannexins

Creative Bioarray is committed to providing clients with high-quality connexin and pannexins analysis services and obtaining data describing the characteristics of the connexin family and junctional channels formed by different connexins in a short time. Our professional scientific services will help you further explore the physiological functions of connexin and pannexins to accelerate your research on junctional channels.

Background

Gap junctions have been shown to play an important role in a variety of physiological processes, such as the regulation of neuronal excitability. Electrical coupling mediated by gap junction enables direct fast transmission of electrical signals and the generation of synchronized and rapid responses. In non-excitable cells such as hepatocytes, gap junction channels allow passive diffusion of a variety of molecules, including ions, small metabolites, nucleotides, and second messengers with molecular mass up to 1000 Da, which are important for coordinating responses between cells. To date, 21 connexin genes and 3 pannexin genes have been found to encode human gap junction proteins.

Connexins share a common topology, including four α-helical transmembrane domains, a cytoplasmic loop, two extracellular loops, and N- and C-termini on the cytoplasmic membrane surface. Since mutations in connexin genes are associated with the development of many diseases, such as cardiac arrhythmias, cancer, and hereditary deafness, it is of great significance to describe the molecular biology of the connexin family and elucidate the permeability, gating, and pharmacological properties of junctional channels formed by different connexins.

Fig. 1 Molecular architecture of gap junctions. (Maes, 2014)

Our Services

Our services include but not limited to:

• Molecular characterization of connexins and pannexins.
• Permeability analysis of connexins and pannexins.
  A large number of different connexin isoforms and even more heteromeric and heterotypic connexin combinations, each with a potentially different set of permeability properties. Therefore, we help our clients detect the unitary conductances of gap connections through single channel electrical methods to analyze the diversity of electrostatic characteristics of connexin channels.
• Localization of connexins and pannexins.
  We provide our clients with the analysis of widespread and overlapping distribution patterns of the 21 members of the human connexin family and pannexins.
• Pharmacological analysis of connexins and pannexins.
  We observed the regulatory effects of various gap junction openers and gap junction closers on gap junction communication to analyze the pharmacological properties of connexins and pannexins.
• Establishment of gap junctional channel models.
  We help our clients simulate homotypic and heterotypic gap junctions formed by connexins and pannexins to study the physiology of hemichannels and gap junctions, including voltage gating of gap junctions and ion blocking of hemichannels.

Applications

• Research on the regulation of connexin expression
• Exploration of the physiological functions of hemichannels and junctional channels
• Research on the gating mechanisms of hemichannels and gap junctional channels

Creative Bioarray is committed to providing cutting-edge ion channel analysis services for research institutions, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Our specialized analysis services of connexin and pannexins help to accelerate the understanding of the physiological and pathological roles of these proteins in a variety of diseases. If you are interested in our services, please contact us for more details.

Reference

1. Maes, M.; et al. Connexin and pannexin (hemi) channels in the liver. Frontiers in physiology, 2014, 4: 405.