scholarly journals Tight junctions in the choroid plexus epithelium. A freeze-fracture study including complementary replicas.

1979 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 662-673 ◽  
Author(s):  
B van Deurs ◽  
J K Koehler

The tight junctions of the choroid plexus epithelium of rats were studied by freeze-fracture. In glutaraldehyde-fixed material, the junctions exhibited rows of aligned particles and short bars on P-faces, the E-faces showing grooves bearing relatively many particles. A particulate nature of the junctional strands could be established by using unfixed material. The mean values of junctional strands from the lateral, third, and fourth ventricles of Lewis rats were 7.5 +/- 2.6, 7.4 +/- 2.2, and 7.5 +/- 2.4; and of Sprague-Dawley rats 7.7 +/- 3.4, 7.4 +/- 2.3, and 7.3 +/- 1.6. Examination of complementary replicas (of fixed tissue) showed that discomtinuities are present in the junctional strands: 42.2 +/- 4.6% of the length of measured P-face ridges were discontinuities, and the total amount of complementary particles in E-face grooves constituted 17.8 +/- 4.4% of the total length of the grooves, thus approximately 25% of the junctional strands can be considered to be discontinuous. The average width of the discontinuities, when corrected for complementary particles in E-face grooves, was 7.7 +/- 4.5 nm. In control experiments with a "tighter" tight junction (small intestine), complementary replicas revealed that the junctional fibrils are rather continuous and that the very few particles in E-face grooves mostly filled out discontinuities in the P-face ridges. Approximately 5% of the strands were found to be discontinuous. These data support the notion that the presence of pores in the junctional strands of the choroid plexus epithelium may explain the high transepithelial conductance in a "leaky" epithelium having a high number of junctional strands. However, loss of junctional material during fracturing is also considered as an alternative explanation of the present results.

Author(s):  
B. Van Deurs ◽  
J. K. Koehler

The choroid plexus epithelium constitutes a blood-cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) barrier, and is involved in regulation of the special composition of the CSF. The epithelium is provided with an ouabain-sensitive Na/K-pump located at the apical surface, actively pumping ions into the CSF. The choroid plexus epithelium has been described as “leaky” with a low transepithelial resistance, and a passive transepithelial flux following a paracellular route (intercellular spaces and cell junctions) also takes place. The present report describes the structural basis for these “barrier” properties of the choroid plexus epithelium as revealed by freeze fracture.Choroid plexus from the lateral, third and fourth ventricles of rats were used. The tissue was fixed in glutaraldehyde and stored in 30% glycerol. Freezing was performed either in liquid nitrogen-cooled Freon 22, or directly in a mixture of liquid and solid nitrogen prepared in a special vacuum chamber. The latter method was always used, and considered necessary, when preparations of complementary (double) replicas were made.


1979 ◽  
Vol 57 (9) ◽  
pp. 1024-1027 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice Normand ◽  
Josee Lalonde

The time course of plasma bioactive adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) concentrations measured following two rapid injections of the hormone at doses of 7.5 and 22.5 mU/100 g, iv, and one infusion over a period of 80 min at a rate of 1.3 mU/min per 100 g, to male Sprague–Dawley rats whose endogenous release of ACTH had been blocked, leads to the conclusion that the hormone is distributed in two compartments. Indeed, the rapid fall of plasma ACTH concentrations in the early minutes following either the injections or the stop of the infusion is followed by a much slower phase. There is no significant difference between the measurements and the two-compartment model outputs. The model represents, on the average, the mean values of the measurements plus or minus 1 standard error for the single injections and plus or minus 1.2 standard error for the infusion.


1988 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-9
Author(s):  
Claudio A. Ferraz de Carvalho ◽  
Ciro F. da Silva

A freeze-fracture analysis of the satellite cells of spinal ganglia of the chick embryo was performed in 8 successive stages of development, from the 5th incubation day to hatching. The characteristic laminar disposition of the cells were first observed on the 7th day. Tight junctions were found at the 20th incubation day. Small groups or irregular aggregates of particles, but not gap junctions, were described on the 7th and 8th days. Pinocytotic vesicles were pointed out in the different stages considered.


1978 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 774-787 ◽  
Author(s):  
N S McNutt

Choroid plexus and intestinal microvilli in thin sections have microfilaments in the cytoplasm adjacent to the membranes, and in replicas have broken strands of filaments in both cytoplasm and on E faces of plasm membranes. The microfilaments contain actin as indicated by their binding of heavy meromyosin (HMM). In sections of choroid plexus, the microfilaments are 7-8 nm in diameter and form a loose meshwork which lies parallel to the membrane and which is connected to the membranes both by short, connecting filaments (8 times 30 nm) and dense globules (approximately 15-20 nm). The filamentous strands seen in replicas are approximately 8 nm in diameter. Because they are similar in diameter and are connected to the membrane, these filamentous strands seen in replicas apparently represent the connecting structures, portions of the microfilaments, or both. The filamentous strands attached to the membrane are usually associated with the E face and appear to be pulled through the P half-membrane. In replicas of intestinal brush border microvilli, the connecting strands attaching core microfilaments to the membrane are readily visualized. In contrast, regions of attachment of core microfilaments to dense material at the tips of microvilli are associated with few particles on P faces and with few filamentous strands on the E faces of the membranes. Freeze-fracture replicas suggest a morphologically similar type of connecting strand attachment for microfilament-membrane binding in both choroid plexus and intestinal microvilli, despite the lack of a prominent core bundle of microfilaments in choroid plexus microvilli.


1988 ◽  
Vol 89 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-505
Author(s):  
B.P. Menco

Tight junctions of the olfactory epithelium of rat embryos were studied at the 14th day of gestation and during their subsequent development. Two different epithelial morphologies could be distinguished at the 14th gestational day. In one group of embryos the epithelial surface appeared undifferentiated, with tight-junctional strands found exclusively in regions where three cells met. The main orientation of these strands is in a direction parallel to the longitudinal orientation of the epithelial cells. These junctions resemble tight junctions that interconnect three cells, i.e. tricellular tight junctions, in that respect. However, unlike these the junctions mainly have single strands of particles, whereas tricellular junctions usually consist of paired strands of particles. Tight-junctional strands were completely absent in areas where two cells met. These areas, i.e. those of incipient bicellular tight junctions, had gap-junction-like aggregates of intramembranous particles. Another group of 14-day-old embryos displayed a differentiating olfactory epithelial surface with bicellular as well as tricellular tight-junctional strands. The latter ones were paired. Here too the tight-junctional belts displayed some gap-junction-like aggregates of particles, but there were considerably fewer of these than earlier. As one or the other tight-junctional appearance was always seen in a single freeze-fracture replica, it is reasonable to assume that the two tight-junctional appearances reflect a sequential pattern of differentiation peculiar to the whole surface of the olfactory epithelium, i.e. to surfaces of receptor cells as well as to surfaces of supporting cells. It would appear that, at the onset of olfactory epithelial differentiation, tight junctions first interconnect cells in regions where three cells meet and that tricellular strand formation precedes the formation of bicellular strands. When strands were present at the 14th day of embryonic development, their numbers were lower than those found later. However, strand packing, expressed as the density per micrometre of strands parallel to the epithelial surface, increased beginning at the 16th day of embryonic development.


1989 ◽  
Vol 256 (6) ◽  
pp. F1007-F1014 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. H. Holstein-Rathlou ◽  
D. J. Marsh

Previous experiments have shown oscillations in proximal tubular pressure in halothane-anesthetized rats. Such oscillations should be due to oscillations in flow rate and should cause periodic oscillations in both distal tubular chloride concentration and distal tubular pressure. The purpose of the study was to test these predictions. In halothane-anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats, distal tubular chloride activity was measured with Cl- -sensitive electrodes, and late proximal flow rate was measured by pulse injection of boluses of solutions containing rhodamine dextran. Bolus velocity was detected by videomicroscopy. The time resolution was 2 s. All four variables oscillated with the same frequency, approximately 35 mHz. The amplitude of the flow and the chloride oscillations were 28 and 10%, respectively, of the mean values. Proximal fluid velocity led proximal pressure by 1.5 +/- 0.4 s, whereas distal chloride activity lagged proximal pressure by 8.9 +/- 0.8 s. The distal pressure lagged the proximal pressure by 1.05 +/- 0.38 s. It is concluded that there is a significant variation in distal chloride activity, the magnitude of which appears to be sufficient to account for the observed flow variations through the operation of the tubuloglomerular feedback mechanism.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyung-Jin Oh ◽  
Hyun-Suk Lee ◽  
Kyuyoun Ahn ◽  
Kwangsung Park

Background. The objectives of this study were to investigate the localization of tight junctions and the modulation of zonula occludens- (ZO-) 1, occludin and claudin-1 expression by estrogen in castrated female rat vagina. Female Sprague-Dawley rats (230–240 g,n=45) were divided into three groups and subjected to a sham operation (control group,n=15), bilateral ovariectomy (Ovx group,n=15), or bilateral ovariectomy followed by daily subcutaneous injection of 17β-estradiol (50 μg/kg/day, Ovx + Est group,n=15). The cellular localization and expression of ZO-1, occludin, and claudin-1 were determined in each group by immunohistochemistry and western blot.Results. Expression of ZO-1 was diffuse in all groups, with the highest intensity in the superficial epithelium in the control group. Occludin was localized in the intermediate and basal epithelium. Claudin-1 was most intense in the superficial layer of the vaginal epithelium in the control group. Expression of ZO-1, occludin, and claudin-1 was significantly decreased after ovariectomy and was restored to the level of the control after estrogen replacement.Conclusions. Tight junctions are distinctly localized in rat vagina, and estrogen modulates the expression of tight junctions. Further researches are needed to clarify the functional role of tight junctions in vaginal lubrication.


1986 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
N.J. Lane ◽  
R. Dallai ◽  
P. Burighel ◽  
G.B. Martinucci

The intestinal tracts from seven different species of tunicates, some solitary, some colonial, were studied fine-structurally by freeze-fracture. These urochordates occupy an intermediate position phylogenetically between the vertebrates and the invertebrates. The various regions of their gut were isolated for examination and the junctional characteristics of each part investigated. All the species examined exhibited unequivocal vertebrate-like belts of tight-junctional networks at the luminal border of their intestinal cells. No septate junctions were observed. The tight junctions varied in the number of their component strands and the depth to which they extended basally, some becoming loose and fragmented towards that border. The junctions consisted of ridges or rows of intramembranous particles (IMPs) on the P face, with complementary, but offset, E face grooves into which IMPs sometimes fractured. Tracer studies show that punctate appositions, the thin-section correlate of these ridge/groove systems, are sites beyond which exogenous molecules do not penetrate. These junctions are therefore likely to represent permeability barriers as in the gut tract of higher chordates. Associated with these occluding zonular junctions are intermediate junctions, which exhibit no identifiable freeze-fracture profile, and macular gap junctions, characterized by a reduced intercellular cleft in thin section and by clustered arrays of P face particles in freeze-fractured replicas; these display complementary aggregates of E face pits. The diameters of these maculae are rarely very large, but in certain species (for example, Ciona), they are unusually small. In some tissues, notably those of Diplosoma and Botryllus, they are all of rather similar size, but very numerous. In yet others, such as Molgula, they are polygonal with angular outlines, as might be indicative of the uncoupled state. In many attributes, these various junctions are more similar to those found in the tissues of vertebrates, than to those in the invertebrates, which the adult zooid forms of these lowly chordates resemble anatomically.


Stroke ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 1578-1586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoxiao Tan ◽  
Jingyin Chen ◽  
Richard F. Keep ◽  
Guohua Xi ◽  
Ya Hua

Background and Purpose— Our recent study demonstrated that release of Prx2 (peroxiredoxin 2) from red blood cells (RBCs) is involved in the inflammatory response and brain injury after intracerebral hemorrhage. The current study investigated the role of extracellular Prx2 in hydrocephalus development after experimental intraventricular hemorrhage. Methods— There were 4 parts in this study. First, Sprague-Dawley rats received an intraventricular injection of lysed RBC or saline and were euthanized at 1 hour for Prx2 measurements. Second, rats received an intraventricular injection of Prx2, deactivated Prx2, or saline. Third, lysed RBC was coinjected with conoidin A, a Prx2 inhibitor, or vehicle. Fourth, rats received Prx2 injection and were treated with minocycline or saline (i.p.). The effects of Prx2 and the inhibitors were examined using magnetic resonance imaging assessing ventriculomegaly, histology assessing ventricular wall damage, and immunohistochemistry to assess inflammation, particularly at the choroid plexus. Results— Intraventricular injection of lysed RBC resulted in increased brain Prx2 and hydrocephalus. Intraventricular injection of Prx2 alone caused hydrocephalus, ventricular wall damage, activation of choroid plexus epiplexus cells (macrophages), and an accumulation of neutrophils. Conoidin A attenuated lysed RBC-induced injury. Systemic minocycline treatment reduced the epiplexus cell activation and hydrocephalus induced by Prx2. Conclusions— Prx2 contributed to the intraventricular hemorrhage-induced hydrocephalus, probably by inducing inflammatory responses in choroid plexus and ventricular wall damage.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document