Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 18 pp 7416—7441

Figure 2. Connexin expression patterns in senior KI mice. (A) Representative confocal images of connexin 26 (Cx26, red), connexin 30 (Cx30, green) and merged images at the age of 60 weeks from apical turns of the basilar membrane. Cx26 and Cx30 were well expressed on the supporting cell membrane and mostly overlapped, forming a honeycomb-like labeling pattern. White brackets indicate the length of representative Cx plaques measured. Scale Bar, 20 μm. (B) Graphs of Imaris 3D-reconstructed images plotted at higher magnification. Cx26 (red) were accurately co-localized with Cx30 (green) in an adjacent parallel pattern. Cx plaques appeared shorter in homozygous supporting cells (Scale Bar, 10 μm). (C) Histograms presenting the average length of the CJ plaques, measured as shown in panel A, of both homozygous and wild-type mice (Mean + SEM). GJs were significantly shorter in homozygous mice in every turn (*P<0.05, two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post-test).