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Evidence for the lipidic nature of tight junction strands

Nature volume 296, pages 464–466 (1982)Cite this article

Abstract

We examine here the proposition that membrane lipids1–4, rather than intrinsic membrane proteins5–7, are the principal structural elements of the strands comprising tight junctions. Our evidence, which is based on direct rapid freezing of newly formed tight junctions between rat prostate epithelial cells, indicates that individual tight junction strands are pairs of inverted cylindrical micelles sandwiched between linear fusions of the external membrane leaflets of adjacent cells. Although individual tight junction strands appear as continuous cylinders when fractured near the frozen surface, where ice crystals have not damaged the plasma membrane, they appear as rows of particles when fractured deeper in the frozen tissue. We now interpret these tight junction particles as remnants of intramembrane cylinders disrupted during freezing The morphology and dimensions of the intact cylinders correspond to those of lipids in the cylindrical hexagonal II phase8,9 and this suggests that tight junction formation requires a phase transition of the planar lipid bilayer similar to that invoked in models of membrane fusion10,11. Our morphological interpretation explains the known functional properties of tight junctions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section on Functional Neuroanatomy, Laboratory of Neuropathology and Neuroanatomical Sciences, National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20205, USA

    Bechara Kachar & Thomas S. Reese

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  1. Bechara Kachar
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  2. Thomas S. Reese
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Kachar, B., Reese, T. Evidence for the lipidic nature of tight junction strands. Nature 296, 464–466 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/296464a0

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