Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2014 Jun 24:5:221.
doi: 10.3389/fphys.2014.00221. eCollection 2014.

Tight junction physiology of pleural mesothelium

Alexander G Markov  1 , Salah Amasheh  2
Affiliations
Review

Tight junction physiology of pleural mesothelium

Alexander G Markov et al. Front Physiol. .

Abstract

Pleura consists of visceral and parietal cell layers, producing a fluid, which is necessary for lubrication of the pleural space. Function of both mesothelial cell layers is necessary for the regulation of a constant pleural fluid volume and composition to facilitate lung movement during breathing. Recent studies have demonstrated that pleural mesothelial cells show a distinct expression pattern of tight junction proteins which are known to ubiquitously determine paracellular permeability. Most tight junction proteins provide a sealing function to epithelia, but some have been shown to have a paracellular channel function or ambiguous properties. Here we provide an in-depth review of the current knowledge concerning specific functional contribution of these proteins determining transport and barrier function of pleural mesothelium.

Keywords: claudins; mesothelial cells; pleura; tight junctions; tissue barrier.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Orientation of visceral and parietal pleura mesothelium.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Restricted paracellular permeability as a prerequisite for pleural transmesothelial potential. Transport routes are indicated as blue (transcellular) and red (paracellular) arrows between apical (ap) and basolateral (bl) compartments. The paracellular barrier is indicated as red crosses.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Detection of tight junction proteins in pleural cells. Immunostaining of occludin with anti-occludin (green), detected by confocal laser scanning microscopy reveals a honeycomb-like distribution of tight junctions in pleural cells (visceral pleura, typical experiment, nuclei stained in blue, bar: 5 μm).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Claudins of visceral and parietal pleura.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Agostoni E., Zocchi L. (1990). Solute-coupled liquid absorption from the pleural space. Respir. Physiol. 81, 19–28 10.1016/0034-5687(90)90066-8 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Alexandre M. D., Lu Q., Chen Y. H. (2005). Overexpression of claudin-7 decreases the paracellular Cl− conductance and increases the paracellular Na+ conductance in LLC-PK1 cells. J. Cell Sci. 118, 2683–2693 10.1242/jcs.02406 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Amasheh M., Fromm A., Krug S. M., Amasheh S., Andres S., Zeitz M., et al. (2010). TNFalpha-induced and berberine-antagonized tight junction barrier impairment via tyrosine kinase, Akt and NFkappaB signaling. J Cell Sci. 123, 4145–4155 10.1242/jcs.070896 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Amasheh S., Dullat S., Fromm M., Schulzke J. D., Buhr H. J., Kroesen A. J. (2009a). Inflamed pouch mucosa possesses altered tight junctions indicating recurrence of inflammatory bowel disease. Int. J. Colorectal. Dis. 24, 1149–1156 10.1007/s00384-009-0737-8 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Amasheh S., Epple H. J., Mankertz J., Detjen K., Goltz M., Schulzke J. D., et al. (2000). Differential regulation of ENaC by aldosterone in rat early and late distal colon. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 915, 92–94 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2000.tb05227.x - DOI - PubMed