Dye-coupling between term pregnant human myometrial cells before labor: carboxyfluorescein versus lucifer yellow.

Term pregnant human myometrial cells in whole mounts were microinjected by pressure with the fluorescent probes Lucifer Yellow and carboxyfluorescein. Tissues obtained from acute and elective sections displayed weak dye-coupling when injected with Lucifer Yellow. Injection of carboxyfluorescein into cells from the elective sections resulted in a more extensive dye-coupling than that observed with Lucifer Yellow. These results indicate that term pregnant human myometrial cells are metabolically coupled before labor and carboxyfluorescein is superior to Lucifer Yellow in detecting the coupling.