Effect of Cx43 knockdown, TAT-Cx43L2 and apyrase treatment on the siRhoA-opposed thrombin-induced inhibition of -wave propagation in BCEC.

<p>Quantitative analysis of the total spreading of the mechanical stimulation-triggered -wave in thrombin-treated cells as active area (AA) normalized to the untreated (no thrombin, white bar) scramble-1 condition (100%). Knockdown of RhoA by siRhoA-1 significantly prevented the thrombin-induced inhibition of -wave propagation (, p 0.001). Simultaneous knock down of Cx43 (siCx43) and RhoA (siRhoA-1) significantly reduced the normalized AA when compared to siRhoA-1 only or siRhoA-1 plus scr-2. Scr-2 represents treatment with a scrambled version of siCx43 siRNA. Experiments with siRNA-treated cells in the presence of either TAT-Cx43L2 or apyrase show that both TAT-Cx43L2 and apyrase potently reduced the normalized AA in BCEC upon RhoA knockdown in the presence (^∧, p 0.001, i.e. comparison of black bars) and absence of thrombin (N = 3, n = 30).