Gap junctions between human meningioma cells maintained in organ culture.

Intercellular junctions were commonly observed in a human syncitial meningioma maintained in organ culture for up to 44 days in vitro (DIV) using gelatin sponge foam matrices. The junctions were identified as one of three types: desmosomes; tight junctions; or gap junctions. Of the three types, gap junctions were frequently encountered and showed preservation of their characteristic ladder-like substructure. The results suggest that organ culture provides an environment that may facilitate correlation of the structure and function of gap junctions between coupled human meningioma cells.