Schwann cells synthesize two heparan sulfate proteoglycans, one that is a component of the Schwann cell basement membrane and a smaller one that is an integral component of the Schwann cell plasma membrane. To determine the functions of these molecules, Schwann cell-nerve cell cultures were grown in medium containing a specific inhibitor of proteoglycan biosynthesis, 4-methylumbelliferyl-beta-D...

A spontaneously occurring antibasement membrane antibody has been further characterised according to antigenic specificity, immunoglobulin class, and tissue localisation using immunofluorescent and immunoelectron microscopic techniques. The autoantibody reacted with the basement membrane of kidney tubules, Bowman's capsule, and the epithelial portion of ileum but not with the basement membrane ...

Protein A-gold immunocytochemistry was applied in combination with morphometrical approaches to reveal the alpha 1(IV), alpha 2(IV), and alpha 3(IV) chains of type IV collagen as well as entactin on renal basement membranes, particularly on the glomerular one, during maturation. The results have indicated that a heterogeneity between renal basement membranes appears during the maturation proces...

Laminin self-assembles in vitro into a polymer by a reversible, entropy-driven and calcium-facilitated process dependent upon the participation of the short arm globular domains. We now find that this polymer is required for the structural integrity of the collagen-free basement membrane of cultured embryonal carcinoma cells (ECC) and for the supramolecular organization and anchorage of laminin...

The stiffness of the basement membrane is a determinant process metastasis and patient survival. Netrin-4 now shown to be key regulator stiffness.

Basement membrane procollagen biosynthesis was studied in organ cultures of embryonic rat parietal yolk sac endoderm by following [14C]proline incorporation into nondialyzable proteins. After reduction with 2-mercaptoethanol the 14C-proteins synthesized were characterized by agarose gel filtration and disc electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. The labeled procollagen was id...