Dr Reinhardt Flashcards
Occluding junctions (examples)
Seal cells together in an epithelium, with no leaking from one side to the other
Examples:
Tight junctions - vertebrates
Separate junctions - invertebrates mainly
Anchoring Junctions
Mechanically attach cells to the neighbors or the ECM
Examples:
- cell-cell junctions
- cell-matrix junctions
Communicating Junctions (examples)
mediate the passage of signals from one cell to the next
Examples:
- gap junctions
- chemical synapses
- plasmodesmata (plants only)
Anchoring junctions with actin filament attachment sites
cell-cell junctions (adherens junction)
cell-matrix junction (focal adhesion)
Anchoring junctions with intermediate filament attachment sites
cell-cell junctions (desmosomes)
cell-matrix junctions (hemidesmosomes)
The role of tight junctions in transcellular transport
Transport proteins are confined to different regions of the plasma membrane in epithelial cells of the small intestine. This segregation permits a vectorial transfer of nutrients across the epithelium from the gut lumen to the blood.
Tight junctions are thought to confine the transport proteins to their appropriate membrane domains by acting as diffusion barriers within the lipid bilayer of the plasma membrane; these junctions also block the backflow of glucose from the basal side of the epithelium into the gut lumen.
Glucose transport in epithelial cells
basolateral membrane.
glucose is actively transported into the cell by Na+-driven glucose symports at the apical surface (higher Na+ concentrations in the lumen), and it diffuses out of the cell by facilitated diffusion mediated by glucose carriers in the basolateral membrane
visible light region
400-700 nm
Light versus electron microscopy: particles and sizes
Source of electrons in electron microscopy: cathode on top
Acceleration in electron microscopy: anode on top
Dark areas, dense materials
Electron smaller wavelengths 0.5nm to 100um
Light larger wavelength 500 nm to 1mm+
Freeze fracture electron microhraph
start with rapid freexing of cell
then the frozen cells are cleaved along a fracture plane
the e face is the inner face of the outer lipid monolayer
the complemented surface is the p face (the inner surface of the inner leaflet of the bilayer)
Tight Junction proteins
claundin, occludin
Claudin
Claudin (The claudin superfamily consists of at least 24 homologous proteins (24 genes) in humans ranging from 20 to 27 kDa)
Specificity: claudin in kidney epithelia (claudin-16 is required for Mg2+ to be reabsorbed from the urine into the blood. A mutation in the gene encoding this claudin results in excessive loss of Mg2+ in the urine)
Occludin
unknown function
- There are two isoforms of occludin that result from alternative mRNA splicing, but have similar tissue distributions. Localization of occludin to tight junctions is regulated by phosphorylation in both epithelial and endothelial cells.
- Occludin is a 65-kDa protein
- Occludins not as essential as claudins
- Occludin deficient mice show complex phenotypes: chronic inflammation, gastric epithelium calcification etc. -> not easily explained by barrier function. Occludins might be involved in epithelial differentiation.
ZO proteins
intracellular connection to cytoskeleton for both proteins
Claudins and occludins structure
4 alpha-helical trans-membrane segments with two extracellular loops
sealing strands
Three major types of cytoskeletal fibers
Actin filaments: actin
Intemediate fiolaments: keratin, desmin, vitemin
Microtubles: tubulin
Tight Junction associated hereditary diseases Cldn-1, Cldn-14, Cldn-16
Cldn-1: Neonatal ichthyosis and sclerosing cholangitis
Cldn-14: Non-syndromic deafness (DFNB29)
Cldn-16: Familial hypomagnesemia with hypercalciuria and nephrocalcinosis
Why is it important to have anchoring junctions?
cells
Where are anchoring junctions most abundant?
2 principle proteins in anchor junctions
Transmembrane adhesion proteins - green (cytosplasmatic tail, TM, extracellular domain)
Intracellular anchor proteins - blue (distinct plaque => connect to actin, intermediate filaments)
Anchor junction parts
Cell-cell
cell-matrix
Actin filaments
IF
In Adherens junction, Desmosome, Focal adhesion, Hemidesmosome
Often: intracellular signalling proteins
Cell-cell: Adherens junctions, desmosomes (Cadherins)
Cell-ECM: focal adhesions, hemidesmosomes (Integrins)
Actin filaments: Adherens junctions, focal adhesions
IF: Desmosomes and hemidesmosomes
belt-like junction
Encircles each of the interacting cells. Its most obvious feature is a contractile bundle of actin filaments running along the cytoplasmic surface of the junctional plasma membrane.
Intracellular anchor proteins:
catenins, vinculin, alpha-actinin
Requirement for formation of tight junctions
Contraction of actin network by myosin motor proteins (fundamental
processes in morphogenesis)
Contractile actin filament in Anchor junctions
parallel to plasma membrane, attached to adhesion belt
What do cadherins form in anchoring junctions
homo dimers