Tight junctions (TJs) form physical barriers in various tissues and regulate paracellular transport of ions, water, and molecules. Myelinating Schwann cells form highly organized structures, including compact myelin, nodes of Ranvier, paranodal regions, Schmidt-Lanterman incisures, periaxonal cytoplasmic collars, and mesaxons. Autotypic TJs are formed in non-compacted myelin compartments betwee...

Paracellin-1 (PCLN-1) belongs to the claudin family of tight junction proteins and possibly plays a critical role in the reabsorption of magnesium and calcium. So far, the physiological properties of PCLN-1 have not been clarified. In the present study, we investigated whether PCLN-1 is associated with ZO-1. We also investigated whether (45)Ca(2+) transport across the paracellular barrier is af...

The tight junction is an essential element of the intercellular junctional complex; yet its protein composition is not fully understood. At present, only three proteins, ZO-1 (Stevenson, B. R., J. D. Siliciano, M. S. Mooseker, and D. A. Goodenough. 1986. J. Cell Biol. 103:755-766), cingulin (Citi, S., H. Sabanay, R. Jakes, B. Geiger, and J. Kendrick-Jones. 1988. Nature (Lond.). 333:272-275) and...

Composite photocatalysts are crucial for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. In this work, ZrO2/CdSe-diethylenetriamine (ZrO2/CdSe-DETA) heterojunction nanocomposites synthesized, and efficiently stably catalyzed evolution under visible light. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) confirm the formation of heterojunctions between ZrO2 (ZO)...

RATIONALE Vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) migration is an important pathological process in several vascular occlusive diseases, including atherosclerosis and restenosis, both of which are accelerated by diabetes mellitus. OBJECTIVE To determine the mechanisms of abnormal vascular SMC migration in type 2 diabetes, the obese Zucker rat (ZO), a model of obesity and insulin resistance, was stu...

Background and Objective: Dengue virus infection remains a health problem. Dengue Virus Non-Structural protein 1 (NS1) increases the release of proinflammatory cytokines that induce intestinal zonulin expression. As a result, the ZO-1 protein translocates to the cytoplasm, which increases enterocyte permeability. This study aimed to investigate the effects of dengue NS1 on intestinal zonulin an...

Tight junctions create a regulated paracellular barrier to the movement of water, solutes, and immune cells between both epithelial and endothelial cells. Recent progress has been made in identifying the proteins that create this barrier. The transmembrane protein occludin is an excellent candidate for the sealing protein and is bound on the cytoplasmic membrane surface to the proteins ZO-1 and...

Early diabetic nephropathy is characterized by glomerular hyperpermeability as a result of impaired glomerular filtration structure caused by hyperglycemia, glycated proteins or irreversible advanced glycosylation endproducts (AGE). To investigate the effect of ginseng total saponin (GTS) on the pathologic changes of podocyte ZO (zonula occludens)-1 protein and podocyte permeability induced by ...

Insulin resistance (IR) impairs cerebrovascular responses to several stimuli in Zucker obese (ZO) rats. However, cerebral artery responses after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) have not been described in IR. We hypothesized that IR worsens vascular reactions after a mild SAH. Hemolyzed blood (300 μl) or saline was infused (10 μl/min) into the cisterna magna of 11-13-wk-old ZO (n = 25) and Zucker ...