Tight junction
type of cellular connection that minimizes metabolic flows between adjacent cells
Tight junctions, also known as occluding junctions or zonulae occludentes (singular, zonula occludens), are multiprotein junctional complexes between epithelial cells, sealing and preventing leakage of solutes and water. They also play a critical role maintaining the structure and permeability of endothelial cells. Tight junctions may also serve as leaky pathways by forming selective channels for small cations, anions, or water. The corresponding junctions that occur in invertebrates are septate junctions.
Structure
Tight junctions are composed of a branching network of sealing strands, each strand acting independently from the others. Therefore, the efficiency of the junction in preventing ion passage increases exponentially with the number of strands.
Each strand is formed from a row of transmembrane proteins embedded in both plasma membranes, with extracellular domains joining one another directly. There are at least 40 different proteins composing the tight junctions. These proteins consist of both transmembrane and cytoplasmic proteins. The three major transmembrane proteins are occludin, claudins, and junction adhesion molecule (JAM) proteins.
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This entry incorporates text from “Tight junction” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.