Influence of Glucose and Serum on Connexin 43 Expression in Cultured Mouse Endothelial Cells

Abstract

The supplier (ATCC) of cultured mouse endothelial cells (bEnd.3) states that those cells should be maintained in a high glucose (10% serum) environment. Previous data gathered from our lab demonstrated that media composition (glucose and serum) impacts the growth rate of these cells. As connexin expression alters cell growth, we were interested in determining whether glucose and serum might alter connexin expression in a way that would affect cell growth. Others have shown that glucose increases endothelial cell connexin 43 expression in vivo. Mouse endothelial cells were grown in mixtures of high (4.5 g/L = 25 mM/L) and low (1 g/L = 5.6 mM/L) glucose with either 10% or 1% serum (fetal bovine FBS). We expect that high glucose and 10% serum, will increase connexin 43 expression which could contribute to the increased growth rate