Fig. 3

Propofol attenuated Ca²⁺ transfer between neighboring HUASMCs by inhibiting the function of Cx43-GJs. A, B Western blot (A) and cell immunofluorescence (B) were used to test Cx43 expression. Cx43 protein in (B) was stained in green and cell nuclei were stained in blue. GAPDH served as a loading control. n = 3 per group. C “Parachute” dye coupling assay was applied to measure the function of GJs. In merged images, donor cells were stained in yellow by Calcein (green) and Dil (red); receiver cells were stained in green with Calcein. Each dot represents the ratio of “recipient cells” (green)/ “donor cells” (yellow) in one field. Three different fields were captured in every experiment. The experiment was repeated 3 times (n = 3 per group). D Detection of [Ca²⁺]_i with fluo3-AM by flow cytometry on HUASMCs. *p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001. All values expressed as mean ± SEM