Intracellular SITS injection dye-uncouples mammalian oligodendrocytes in culture

Abstract

When the blue fluorescing dye SITS (4-acetamido-4'-isothiocyanato-stilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid disodium salt) is injected into one of a pair of electrically and dye-coupled oligodendrocytes it does not cross the intercellular junctions but remains in the injected cell. Moreover, the fluorescent dye Lucifer Yellow CH (LY), which normally crosses these intercellular junctions after injection, does not diffuse into a SITS-injected cell. Thus, intracellular SITS injection leads to dye-uncoupling. SITS injection does not eliminate electrical-coupling.