Occludin Mouse, Unlabeled, Clone: 19, BD

Description

• Tight junctions (zonulae occludens) are critical to the maintenance of cell polarity and intercellular barriers between epithelial and endothelial cells
• Among the barriers formed by the tight junctions is the critical blood-brain barrier
• Protein components of the tight junctions include actin filaments, symplekin, occludin, Rab3B, AF-6, 7H6, ZO-1 and ZO-2
• The human occludin protein is 522 amino acids with four transmembrane domains in the first half of the protein
• Two glycine/tyrosine-rich extracellular loops are involved in cell-cell interactions
• In the cytoplasm, occludin interacts with ZO-1 through its intracellular C-terminus
• A possible function of ZO-1 may be to link the adherens components, like occludin, to the submembraneous actin cytoskeleton
• Experimental breakdown of the tight junctions at the blood-brain barrier results in redistribution of vinculin and loss of ZO-1 and Occludin
• Taken together, these data indicate that occludin and ZO-1 are critical elements in the formation of tight junctions and may also serve an important role in signaling and tumor suppression.