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Lack of correlation between tight junction morphology and permeability properties in developing choroid plexus

Nature volume 264, pages 293–294 (1976)Cite this article

Abstract

ELECTRON microscopical investigations of tight junctions (zonulae occludentes) using marker substances, have indicated that in some tissues these junctions may represent an extracellular pathway for transepithelial movement of certain small solutes1 and also restrict the movement of larger solutes2. The electrical resistance across some epithelial tissues has been used as a measure of the degree of permeability of the tight junctions to ions3, and it was suggested that junctions that are “leaky” to ions are also leaky to small non-electrolytes. Examination of tight junctions with the freeze-fracture technique has revealed the presence of a network of intramembranous fibrils4 or strands5,6. Some evidence suggests that these strands constitute the sealing component of the junction7, and Claude and Goodenough6 correlated the transepithelial permeability of a given epithelium with the number of strands in the tight junction network. Artificial methods of altering transepithelial permeability (hypertonic solutions applied to the mucosal side of the epithelium) have been used to investigate changes in transepithelial electrical resistance8, and freeze-fracture morphology9 or both10. Results from these studies do not consistently support the above correlation. An alternative approach is described here, in which the freeze-fracture technique has been used to study tight junctions of the sheep choroid plexus during foetal development. The results obtained suggest that there is no change in the ultra-structural features of tight junctions which have previously been suggested to correlate with transepithelial permeability, in spite of considerable changes in permeability during the developmental period studied11–13.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Medical Anatomy A, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 1, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    K. MØLLGÅRD

  2. Department of Physiology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    D. H. MALINOWSKA & N. R. SAUNDERS

Authors
  1. K. MØLLGÅRD
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  2. D. H. MALINOWSKA
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  3. N. R. SAUNDERS
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MØLLGÅRD, K., MALINOWSKA, D. & SAUNDERS, N. Lack of correlation between tight junction morphology and permeability properties in developing choroid plexus. Nature 264, 293–294 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/264293a0

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