Blood, 15 April 2003, Vol. 101, No. 8, pp. 2996-2998
HEMATOPOIESIS
Brief report
Hematopoietic capacity of connexin43 wild-type and knock-out
fetal liver cells not different on wild-type stroma
Martin Rosendaal and
Chris Jopling
From the Department of Anatomy and Developmental
Biology, University College, London, United Kingdom.
In 1995 and 1997 we proposed that gap junctions between
stromal and hematopoietic cells formed by connexin43 (Cx43) determine hematopoiesis. If this were the case, are the critical gap junctions in
this regard those between hematopoietic and stromal cells, or those
between stromal cells alone? To test the first possibility, we compared
hematopoietic repopulating capacity between fetal liver hematopoietic
cells expressing the different mouse Cx43 genotypes, wild type (WT),
hemizygous, or knock-out (KO) on WT host mice stroma. We deleted host
glucose phosphate isomerase 1a (Gpi-1a) stems
and then raced identifiable Cx43 WT host fetal liver against congenic
donor Cx43 WT, hemizygous, or KO cells in sets, comparing their
capacity to form 5 end cells. Hematopoietic capacity did not differ
between the Cx43 WT and KO genotypes. The role of Cx43 gap junctions in
hematopoiesis remains uncertain.
