Coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR) mediates atrioventricular-node function and connexin 45 localization in the murine heart
J. Clin. Invest. Byung-Kwan Lim, et al. 118:2758 doi:10.1172/JCI34777 [Go to this article.]

Figure 5
Protein expression in AV node of WT and CAR-cKO mice. (A) Immunoblot for HCN4, connexin 45 (Cx45), connexin 30.2, and connexin 40, and GAPDH demonstrate that the levels of connexin 45 are markedly decreased whereas levels of connexins 30.2 and 40 are somewhat increased. (B–CC) Immunofluorescent staining of the AV node in WT (B–O) and CAR-cKO (P–CC) mice. HCN4 stain in the area of the AV node identified the conduction tissue (B and P). Higher magnification of the area of the AV node (rectangles) stained with HCN4 and CAR (D–F and R–T). An adjacent section of the AV-nodal tissue that stained positive for HCN4 was costained for connexin 45 and CAR (G–I and U–W). As a control for AV-node, cell-cell junction adjacent sections were costained for γ-catenin and CAR (J–L and X–Z). The AV nodes of WT and CAR-cKO mice were then costained for CAR and connexin 45 and imaged at high magnification using deconvolution microscopy (M–O and AA–CC). Scale bars are measured in micrometers. Arrows indicate staining of cell-cell junctions.