Study progress of homocellular and heterocellular gap junctions in vessel wall

Abstract

There were four different degrees which were related to organs, tissues, cells and molecules in the study of physiopathologic process and treatment of vessel remodeling diseases. More people concentrated on the research of one kind of cell, for example, the vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) or adventitial fibroblast (AF) and their effect on the vessel rebuilding. However, the human body is an organic whole, so the structural and functional contacts among vascular endothelial cell, smooth muscle cell (SMC) and AF should be paid more attention to. Books and articles on the gap junction (GJ) were collected and studied. Gap junction between and among cells of the vessel wall played a critical role in many aspects of vascular function and pathology. There was homocellular communication in intima, tunicae media and adventitia singly, and also, heterocellular communication among different cells of the vessel wall. As a result, a link network was formed among cells of the vessel wall and the vessel had integrated function in the physiological and pathological process. Hence, a summary was made about the homocellular and heterocellular gap junctions, hoping that there would be more people concentrating on the whole function of vessels.