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  • Orchestrating aquaporin-4 a...
    Rao, Shreyas B.; Skauli, Nadia; Jovanovic, Nenad; Katoozi, Shirin; Frigeri, Antonio; Froehner, Stanley C.; Adams, Marvin E.; Ottersen, Ole Petter; Amiry-Moghaddam, Mahmood

    Biochimica et biophysica acta. Biomembranes, 08/2021, Volume: 1863, Issue: 8
    Journal Article

    Aquaporin-4 (AQP4) water channels and gap junction proteins (connexins) are two classes of astrocytic membrane proteins critically involved in brain water and ion homeostasis. AQP4 channels are anchored by α1-syntrophin to the perivascular astrocytic endfoot membrane domains where they control water flux at the blood-brain interface while connexins cluster at the lateral aspects of the astrocytic endfeet forming gap junctions that allow water and ions to dissipate through the astrocyte syncytium. Recent studies have pointed to an interdependence between astrocytic AQP4 and astrocytic gap junctions but the underlying mechanism remains to be explored. Here we use a novel transgenic mouse line to unravel whether β1-syntrophin (coexpressed with α1-syntrophin in astrocytic plasma membranes) is implicated in the expression of AQP4 isoforms and formation of gap junctions in brain. Our results show that while the effect of β1-syntrophin deletion is rather limited, double knockout of α1- and β1-syntrophin causes a downregulation of the novel AQP4 isoform AQP4ex and an increase in the number of astrocytic gap junctions. The present study highlight the importance of syntrophins in orchestrating specialized functional domains of brain astrocytes. Display omitted •Knockout of AQP4 leads to increased number of astrocytic gap junctions.•AQP4 is anchored to the perivascular astrocytic endfeet by α1-syntrophin.•Knockout of α1- or β1 syntrophin has no effect on the number gap junctions.•Double knockout of α1- and β1 syntrophin causes a downregulation of AQP4ex isoform.•Double knockout of α1- and β1 syntrophin leads to increase in number of gap junctions.