“…In rodents, several connexins (Cx26, Cx30, Cx31, Cx32, and Cx43) have been detected in the epithelia and connective tissue of the cochlea (15,32,36,47,55,56,60,104,112), supporting the formation of a gap-junction network in these tissues. In addition, gapjunction plaques (32-35, 50, 51) and extensive intercellular coupling (4, 35, 64, 84-86, 110, 111) were observed in both the cochlear connective tissue and the organ of Corti.…”