Determination of apical membrane polarity in mammary epithelial cell cultures: The role of cell-cell, cell-substratum, and membrane-cytoskeleton interactions

Journal Article · Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · Experimental Cell Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0014-4827(90)90174-9· OSTI ID:5378439

Parry, G; Beck, J C; Moss, L; Bartley, J ^[1]; Ojakian, G K ^[2]

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1. Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (United States)
2. State Univ. of New York, Brooklyn (United States)

The membrane glycoprotein, PAS-O, is a major differentiation antigen on mammary epithelial cells and is located exclusively in the apical domain of the plasma membrane. The authors have used 734B cultured human mammary carcinoma cells as a model system to study the role of tight junctions, cell-substratum contacts, and submembranous cytoskeletal elements in restricting PAS-O to the apical membrane. Immunofluorescence and immunoelectronmicroscopy experiments demonstrated that while tight junctions demarcate PAS-O distribution in confluent cultures, apical polarity could be established at low culture densities when cells could not form tight junctions with neighboring cells. They suggest, then, that interactions between vitronectin and its receptor, are responsible for establishment of membrane domains in the absence of tight junctions. The role of cytoskeletal elements in restricting PAS-O distribution was examined by treating cultures with cytochalasin D, colchicine, or acrylamide. Cytochalasin D led to a redistribution of PAS0O while colchicine and acrylamide did not. They hypothesize that PAS-O is restricted to the apical membrane by interactions with a microfilament network and that the cytoskeletal organization is dependent upon cell-cell and cell-substratum interactions.

• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 5378439
• Journal Information: Experimental Cell Research; (United States), Vol. 188:2; ISSN 0014-4827
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
CELL MEMBRANES
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
EPITHELIUM
MORPHOLOGY
TUMOR CELLS
CELL DIFFERENTIATION
ANTIGENS
CARCINOMAS
CELL CULTURES
COLCHICINE
FLUORESCENCE
GLYCOPROTEINS
MAMMARY GLANDS
RECEPTORS
ALKALOIDS
ANIMAL CELLS
ANIMAL TISSUES
ANTIMITOTIC DRUGS
ANTIPYRETICS
BODY
CELL CONSTITUENTS
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM DEPRESSANTS
DISEASES
DRUGS
GLANDS
LUMINESCENCE
MEMBRANE PROTEINS
MEMBRANES
MICROSCOPY
NEOPLASMS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANS
PROTEINS
TISSUES
550300* - Cytology