Connexins are membrane bound proteins that facilitate direct and local paracrine mediated cell-to-cell communication through their ability to oligomerise into hexameric hemichannels. When neighbouring channels align, they form gap-junctions that provide a direct route for information transfer between cells. In contrast to intact gap junctions, which typically open under physiological conditions, undocked hemichannels have a low open probability and mainly open in response to injury. Hemichannels permit the release of small molecules and ions (approximately 1kDa) into the local intercellular environment, and excessive expression/activity has been linked to a number of disease conditions. Carboxyfluorescein dye uptake measures functional expression of hemichannels, where increased ... [摘要]  [摘要]连接蛋白是有助于直接和局部旁分泌通过自己的能力介导的细胞-细胞通信膜结合蛋白寡聚成六聚半通道。当相邻通道对齐时，它们形成间隙连接，为单元之间的信息传输提供直接路径。与通常在生理条件下打开的完整的间隙连接相反，未对接的半通道的打开概率较低，主要是在受伤时打开。半通道允许小分子和离子（约1kDa）释放到局部细胞间环境中，并且过度表达/活性 与许多疾病状况有关。羧基荧光素染料的摄取量度了半通道的功能性表达，其中增加的半通道活性/功能反映了增加的负荷。该技术依赖于通过开放性半通道对不可渗透膜的荧光示踪剂的吸收，可用于比较在不同条件下（例如对照与疾病）培养的细胞单层之间的通道活性。其他技术（例如生物素化和电生理学）可以分别测量细胞表面表达和半通道开放可能性，但是，羧基荧光素的摄取提供了一种简单，快速且经济高效的方法来测定多种细胞类型的体外半通道活性。


图形摘要：

使用染料吸收量度半通道活性

[背景]连接蛋白（CX ）是一体的跨膜蛋白，其寡聚到连接子在细胞表面。连接子与相似的六聚体蛋白复合物停靠在相邻细胞上，形成用于间隙连接细胞间通讯的双向导管（GJIC；Bosco等人，2011 ...

Alterations in synaptic transmission are critical early events in neuromuscular disorders. However, reliable methodologies to analyze the functional organization of the neuromuscular synapses are still needed. This manuscript provides a detailed protocol to analyze the molecular assembly of the neuromuscular synapses through immune-electrophysiology in Drosophila melanogaster. This technique allows the quantification of the molecular behavior of the neuromuscular synapses by correlating the structural configuration of the synaptic boutons with their electrical activity.

Given the scale of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the need for reliable, scalable testing, and the likelihood of reagent shortages, especially in resource-poor settings, we have developed an RT-qPCR assay that relies on an alternative to conventional viral reverse transcriptases, a thermostable reverse transcriptase/DNA polymerase (RTX) (Ellefson et al., 2016). Here we show that RTX performs comparably to the other assays sanctioned by the CDC and validated in kit format. We demonstrate two modes of RTX use – (i) dye-based RT-qPCR assays that require only RTX polymerase, and (ii) TaqMan RT-qPCR assays that use a combination of RTX and Taq DNA polymerases (as the RTX exonuclease does not degrade a TaqMan probe). We also provide straightforward recipes for the purification of this