The Fifth Joint Meeting of the Society for Skin Structure Research and the Society for Cutaneous Ultrastructure Research Role of tight junctions in epithelial barrier function

摘要

Isolation from the external environment and possession of distinct fluid compartments in the body are crucial for the function of most organ systems in multicellular organisms. This compartmentalization is accomplished by epithelia and endothelia, which not only selectively transport various substances through membrane transporters but also act as permeability barriers. Tight junctions (TJ), one mode of cell-cell junctions, play crucially important roles in establishing epithelial/endothelial barriers by regulating the paracellular flux of water-soluble molecules between adjacent cells. Among TJ-associated membrane proteins, claudins play central roles in the architecture and barrier function of TJ. Claudins have four transmembrane domains and comprise a multigene family with 24 members in mice and humans.