Abstract
Gap junctions form intercellular channels that electrochemically couple adjacent cells to spread resting and action potentials, mediate cell-cell biochemical signaling, and synchronize cell activity. In addition, undocked gap junction hemichannels can mediate depolarization and the passage of signals between cytoplasm and interstitium. Connexins – the constituent proteins of gap junctions in mammals – critically regulate a variety of complex processes during development and in disease, including cell proliferation, migration, and stem cell differentiation.
This Special Issue will focus on how connexins regulate cell and tissue function by serving as cell-cell conduits of bioelectrical phenomena in healthy organ systems, as well as how these events might be altered in pathological states. Articles will explore the role of gap junctions as intercellular channels alongside growing evidence of channel-independent signal regulation, with additional consideration for how gap junctions can be novel targets for therapeutic interventions.
The guest editors would welcome original research articles, reviews, perspectives, technical notes and protocols that report on recent advances in the field. Areas of interest include, but are not restricted to:
Mechanisms of gap junction channel gating and permeability Heteromeric and heterotypic gap junction channel properties Upstream regulators of gap junctions Channel-dependent and/or -independent gap junction-mediated cell signaling Role(s) of gap junctions in tissue development in normal (e.g., morphogenesis and embryogenesis) and diseased (e.g., wound healing, cancer) states. Role(s) of hemichannels Non-mammalian gap junctions (e.g. innexins) Analogous intercellular communication in plants
Contributions will receive prompt and thorough peer review. Please refer to our Instructions for Authors at www.liebertpub.com/bioe before submitting your manuscript for consideration. Also, before submitting, authors would be welcome to discuss their ideas directly with Guest Editors Dr. Jose F. Ek Vitorin (ekvitori@arizona.edu) and Dr. Jennifer S. Fang (jfang5@tulane.edu).
Early submissions will receive prompt and thorough peer-review; accepted manuscripts will be published as e-pub ahead of print when-ready. This Special Issue is scheduled to appear in full online and in print in June 2023.
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Stem Cells and Development, Tissue Engineering, and The CRISPR Journal. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 90 journals, newsmagazines, and books is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website, www.liebertpub.com.