The Hormone-Induced Regulation of Contact-Dependent Cell-Cell Communication by Phosphorylation*

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Abstract
Introduction THERE are a number of recent reviews on gap junctions and their ability to mediate contact-dependent cell-to-cell communication (1–11). Each of these articles has its own perspective on the biophysical, biochemical, and physiological roles of cell communication in various tissues and cell types. It is our intent to focus on the established and potential functions of intercellular communication, especially as they apply to endocrine or endocrine-responsive systems, and to correlate this with what is known about the regulation of cell communication. To do this coherently the structure of gap junctions is considered first, after which the concept of intercellular communication is introduced. Then the biochemistry and molecular biology of gap junctions are summarized. Finally, the apparent physiological significance of intercellular communication will be reviewed and related to emerging evidence on the regulation of this dynamic process. Retrospective Until recently, studies of intercellular communication mainly involved the use of electron microscopy to evaluate morphological changes in gap junctional membranes after various treatments of cells or tissues or they relied on electrophysiological based approaches to examine alterations in cell-cell ionic coupling or fluorescent dye transfer. Because of the extreme technical demands of each of these experimental methods, only rarely were studies combining electron microscopy and electrophysiology performed (12).