CELL JUNCTIONS & SURFACE
SPECIALIZATIONS
DR RAHAT BANO SIDDIQUI
Fazaia Ruth Pfau Medical College
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• At the end of this lecture students of 1st year MBBS should be able to describe
the following
• Discuss different domains of a cell
• Describe the structure and function of basement membrane
• Discuss cell junctions, their location, structure and function with their applied
aspects
• Discuss different surface specializations with their structure and function
POLARITY / DOMAINS OF CELLS
• Epithelial cells generally show
polarity, with organelles and
membrane proteins distributed
unevenly within the cell
• Basal pole
• Apical pole
• Lateral surfaces
BASAL POLE/Basement Membrane
• Specialized sheet of
extracellular material at the
basal pole of cells
• Consists of two layers
• Basal Lamina (20 to 100nm)
• Reticular Lamina
Lamina Lucida:
• Between the basal lamina and
cell is an electron lucent or
relatively clear area
• Consists of fibronectin and
laminin receptors
• Basal Lamina
• Laminin
• Collagen IV
• Held together by
entactin/ nidogen and
perlecan
• Reticular Lamina
• Collagen III
• Reticular fibers
• Collagen VII
Functions of BM
• Structural support and polarity to epithelial cells
• Attach epithelia to underlying connective tissue
• Filter substances entering the epithelium from below
• Form a scaffold for epithelial repair and regeneration
• Affect endocytosis, signal transduction, and other activities.
• Mediate many cell-to-cell interactions involving epithelia
CELL JUNCTIONS
• Tight or occluding
junctions form a seal
between adjacent
cells.
• Adherent or
anchoring junctions
are sites of string
cell adhesion.
• Gap junctions are
channels for
communication
between adjacent
cells.
CLASSIFICATION OF CELL JUNCTIONS
• Tight Junction / Zonula
Occludens
• Adherent Junction /
Anchoring Junction
• Zonula adherens
• Desmosomes
• Hemidesmosome
• Gap Junctions
Zona Occludens/Tight Junction
• Present in definite order at
the apical end of cells.
• Plasma membranes of
adjoining cells come in
contact to seal of
intercellular space
• Very tight junctions,
adjacent membranes
appear fused
Ultra Structure
Three major groups of
transmembrane proteins are
involved
Occludin
Claudin
Junctional adhesion
molecule
PDZ domain proteins [ZO-
1,ZO-2,ZO-3]
Functions
• Form intercellular diffusion
barrier
• Prevent migration of lipids and
specialized membrane proteins
at apical cell surface into lateral
and basal surfaces
• Maintain integrity of these two
domains.
• Recruit various signaling
molecules to cell surface and
link them to actin filaments of
cell cytoskeleton.
Defects
• Fetal blood brain barrier[occludins]
• Clostridium perfringes[Claudin]
• Helicobacter pylori[ZO-1]
• Deafness[claudins]
Adherent or Anchoring Junction
• Provide lateral adhesion
between epithelial cells
• TYPES
• Zonula Adherens
• Macula
Adherens/Desmosomes
• Hemidesmosomes
• Zonula Adherens:
Which interact with
network of actin
filament inside the cell
• Macula
Adherens/Desmosomes:
• Which interact with
intermediate filaments
• Provide strong
attachment, act like
series of spot weld
• Stabilizes nearby tight
junctions
• Intercellular space
contains desmogleins
and desmocollins
• HEMIDESMOSOMES
• Anchor intermediate
filaments of
cytoskeleton into
basement membrane
Defects
• Autoimmunity against desmoglein 1leads to dyshesive skin disorders
• Reduced cohesion of epidermal cells
• Pemphigus vulgaris
• Mutations in integrin genes lead to epidermolysis bullosa (Hemidesmosomes)
Gap/Communicating Junctions
• Only cellular structure that
permit direct passage of
signaling molecules from
one cell to another
• Example:
• Cardiac muscles
• Neurons
• Low resistance junctions
Structure
• Tightly packed channels connexons,
composed of connexin protein
• 6 subunits in one channel
• These channels paired with similar
structure of adjacent membrane
• Opening and closing of connexons
leads to transfer of small molecules
from channels instead of
intercellular space
Defects
• Deafness
• Peripheral neuropathy
APICAL MODIFICATIONS
• Microvilli
• Sterocillia
• Cillia
• Flagella
MICROVILLI
• Finger like cytoplasmic
projections
• Striated appearance/
brush border
• Increase surface area
• Core of actin filaments
cross linked by actin
binding protiens
STEREOCILIA
• Much less common type of
apical process, restricted to
absorptive epithelial cells
lining the epididymis and
the proximal part of ductus
deferens in the male
reproductive system.
• Increase the cells’ surface
area, facilitating absorption
• More specialized
stereocilia with a motion-
detecting function are
important components of
inner ear sensory cells.
• Stereocilia resemble
microvilli in containing
arrays of actin filaments
and various actin-binding
proteins, with similar
diameters, and with similar
connections to the cell’s
terminal web.
• However, stereocilia are
typically much longer and
much less motile than
microvilli, and may show
distal branching along their
length
CILLIA
• Long projecting structures, larger
than microvilli, which contain
internal arrays of microtubules
• Primary cilium, non motile but is
enriched with receptors and signal
transduction complexes for
detection of light, odors, motion,
and flow of liquid past the cells.
• Primary cilia (Nodal cilia) are also
important in the early embryo.
• Motile cilia are found only in
epithelia, where they are abundant
on the apical domains of many
cuboidal or columnar cells.
STRUCTURE
• Nine peripheral microtubular
doublets in which a few tubulin
protofilaments are shared
• The nine doublets form an array
around two central
microtubules; the 9 + 2
assembly of microtubules is
called an axoneme
• Axonemes are continuous with
basal bodies, which are apical
cytoplasmic structures just
below the cell membrane Basal
bodies have a structure similar
to that of centrioles, with
triplets of microtubules and
dynamic tubulin protofilaments
forming rootlets anchoring the
entire structure to the
cytoskeleton.
Morphologic Specialization
• Infoldings or plica on border
of each cell
• These infoldings increase the
lateral surface area
• Intestine or gall bladder
THANK YOU
