Mind the Gap! Gap junctions in the uterus and the mystery of contraction

Critical to the propagation of the human race, proper function of the uterus hinges on coordinated and spatially organised contractions – particularly at term. Unlike in cardiac or gastro-intestinal systems. no pacemaking mechanism is known to exist in the uterus and the manner of generating and controlling electrical signals key to contraction is poorly understood. It is known, however, that intercellular coupling via gap junctions dramatically increases at term. We present our two-track effort at characterising this uterine puzzle with theoretical and experimental studies focused on the potential for gap junctions to both generate and organise spatially coordinated contractions.