Further evidence for the selective disruption of intercellular communication by heptanol
Christ, G.J.; Spektor, M.; Brink, P.R.; Barr, L.
American Journal of Physiology 276(6): H1911-H1917
1999
ISSN/ISBN: 0002-9513 PMID: 10362670 Document Number: 501545
The lack of selective gap junctional uncoupling agents has hampered evaluation of the contribution of intercellular communication to pharmacomechanical coupling and vascular contractility. Thus we further explored the utility and selectivity of heptanol as a gap junctional uncoupling agent in isolated rat aortic rings. Fifty-two aortic rings were obtained from 15 rats and were precontracted to 40 min, addition of heptanol was associated with little, if any, detectable relaxation. Linear regression analysis of the magnitude of the heptanol-induced relaxation vs. the square root of the elapsed time interval (from addition of PE) revealed a highly significant negative correlation (P < 0.001, R = 0.81). Studies conducted on KCl-precontracted aortic rings revealed no detectable heptanol-induced relaxation after development of the steady-state KCl-induced contraction. These data extend our previous observations to further document the potential utility of heptanol as a "relatively selective" uncoupling agent. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.