Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Segawa, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Segawa, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Journal of Electron Microscopy 43(5): 290-298 (1994)
© 1994 Oxford University Press

Tight Junctional Permeability in Living Cells: Dynamic Changes Directly Visualized by Confocal Laser Microscopy

Akihisa Segawa

Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Kitasato University 1-15-1 Kitasato, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 228 Japan

Confocal microscopy was used to study the tight junctional permeability in living rat parotid and submandibular glands. The interstitial space of the tissue was perfused with medium containing fluorescent tracers Lucifer Yellow (anionlc: MW 457), Propidium Iodide (cationic: MW 668) and dextrans labeled with FITC or RTTC (anionic and neutral: MW 3K, 10 K, 40 K, 70 K and 500 K) to monitor whether or not these tracers permeate into the lumen across the junction. In the acini of normal glands, fluorescence was detected in the basolateral space but not in the luminal space up to 30 min. However, when secretion was induced by isoproterenol or carbachol, fluorescence appeared in the luminal space within 2 to 5 min. This did not involve the disruptive changes in tight junction ultrastructure, nor was it irreversible; the luminal fluorescence disappeared again when the secretagogues were removed. Tracers up to MW 40 K for isoproterenol and MW 10 K for carbachol revealed the luminal fluorescence in parotid acini, with little indications of the charge preference characteristics. The luminal fluoresence also appeared by anoxia, enzymatic cell dissociation and the cytochalasin D treatment It was suggested that the tight junctions in salivary acini dynamically alter their permeability and modulate the passage of large molecules through the paracellular pathway. Oxygen supply, extracellular matrices and cytoskeletons were suggested to influence these regulations.

Keywords     tight junction, paracellular pathway, salivary gland, secretion, confocal microscopy

Received     18 April 1994, accepted 17 August 1994


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
J. D. Kawedia, M. L. Nieman, G. P. Boivin, J. E. Melvin, K.-I. Kikuchi, A. R. Hand, J. N. Lorenz, and A. G. Menon
Interaction between transcellular and paracellular water transport pathways through Aquaporin 5 and the tight junction complex
PNAS, February 27, 2007; 104(9): 3621 - 3626.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Physiol.Home page
M. Murakami, B. Shachar-Hill, M. C Steward, and A E Hill
The paracellular component of water flow in the rat submandibular salivary gland
J. Physiol., December 15, 2001; 537(3): 899 - 906.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Cell Sci.Home page
G Stenbeck and M. Horton
A new specialized cell-matrix interaction in actively resorbing osteoclasts
J. Cell Sci., January 5, 2000; 113(9): 1577 - 1587.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.