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1 Margaret M. Dyson Vision Research Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, and 3 Department of Cell Biology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, New York 10021; and 2 Department of Physiology, Center for Research and Advanced Studies, 07000 Mexico City DF, Mexico
Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK)
I and Fisher rat thyroid (FRT) cells exhibit transepithelial electrical
resistance (TER) values in excess of 5,000
· cm2. When these cells were
incubated in the presence of various inhibitors of sphingolipid
biosynthesis, a >5-fold reduction of TER was observed without changes
in the gate function for uncharged solutes or the fence function for
apically applied fluorescent lipids. The localization of ZO-1 and
occludin was not altered between control and inhibitor-treated cells,
indicating that the tight junction was still intact. Furthermore, the
complexity of tight junction strands, analyzed by freeze-fracture
microscopy, was not reduced. Once the inhibitor was removed and the
cells were allowed to synthesize sphingolipids, a gradual recovery of
the TER was observed. Interestingly, these inhibitors did not attenuate
the TER of MDCK II cells, a cell line that typically exhibits values
below 800
· cm2. These results
suggest that glycosphingolipids play a role in regulating the
electrical properties of epithelial cells.
lipid microdomains; caveolin; claudin; occludin
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