A provisional matrix consisting of fibrin and fibronectin (FN) is deposited at sites of tissue damage and repair. This matrix serves as a scaffold for fibroblast migration into the wound where these cells deposit new matrix to replace lost or damaged tissue and eventually contract the matrix to bring the margins of the wound together. Tenascin-C is expressed transiently during wound repair in t...

Tenascin, an extracellular matrix protein that modulates cell adhesion, exists as a unique six-armed structure called a hexabrachion. The human hexabrachion is composed of six identical 320 kDa subunits and the structure is stabilized by inter-subunit disulfide bonds between amino-terminal segments. We have examined the biosynthesis of tenascin and its assembly into hexabrachions using pulsecha...

Tenascin-R is a multidomain molecule of the extracellular matrix in the CNS with neurite outgrowth inhibitory functions. Despite the fact that in amphibians spontaneous axonal regeneration of the optic nerve occurs, we show here that the molecule appears concomitantly with myelination during metamorphosis and is present in the adult optic nerve of the salamander Pleurodeles waltl by immunoblots...

The extracellular matrix molecule tenascin has been implicated in neuron-glia recognition in the developing central and peripheral nervous system and in regeneration. In this study, its role in Bergmann glial process-mediated neuronal migration was assayed in vitro using tissue explants of the early postnatal mouse cerebellar cortex. Of the five mAbs reacting with nonoverlapping epitopes on ten...

We have isolated cDNA clones for mouse tenascin and analyzed expression of tenascin mRNAs during embryonic development of the kidney and gut. The deduced amino acid sequence of the mouse tenascin cDNAs shows a modular structure of repeats similar to chicken and human tenascin. In mouse there are 14.5 cysteine-rich repeats with similarity to the EGF repeat, followed by several repeats with simil...

Tenascin and thrombospondin belong to the growing family of extracellular matrix glycoproteins believed to have an anti-adhesive function during development. Immunohistochemistry has been used to identify these proteins in the developing central nervous system, in the matrix surrounding peripheral neurons, and in connective tissue. The antibodies used in most of these studies, however, could no...

Inappropriate expression of proinflammatory mediators underpins the pathogenesis of autoimmune disease and tumor metastasis. The extracellular matrix glycoprotein tenascin-C is an endogenous activator of innate immunity that promotes the synthesis of inflammatory cytokines via activation of TLR4. Little tenascin-C is observed in most healthy adult tissues, but expression is specifically upregul...

Our work centers on understanding how the extracellular matrix molecule tenascin-C regulates neuronal growth. We have found that the region of tenascin-C containing only alternately spliced fibronectin type-III repeat D, called fnD, when used by itself, dramatically increases neurite outgrowth in culture. We used overlapping synthetic peptides to localize the neurite outgrowth-promoting site wi...

Tenascin and fibronectin are extracellular matrix glycoproteins expressed during morphogenesis and tissue repair. In the present study bronchial biopsies were studied by the morphometric method of immunocytochemistry to reveal the distribution of different tenascin and fibronectin isoforms as well as the presence of inflammatory cells in the airway mucosa of patients with chronic asthma (n = 32...

Glaucoma is characterized by the loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and optic nerve fibres. Previous studies noted fewer RGCs after immunization with ocular antigens at 28 days. It is known that changes in extracellular matrix (ECM) components conduct retina and optic nerve degeneration. Here, we focused on the remodelling of tenascin-C and phosphacan/receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase β/...