The effect of ECM materials on tight junction proteins

• Main Author: Vu, Dung Le
• Other Authors: Cho Nam Joon
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/62272
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Tight junction is one of the important components of cell. Its main functionis to connect cell to cell and acts as paracellular barrier that regulate permeability. It also plays an important role in intercellular signal transmission. Therefore, tight junction is important in cell profireration. Tight junction of one cell consists of three transmembrane proteins: occludin, claudin and JAMs and many intracellular binders such as ZO1, ZO2. Recently, there been a hypothesis that HCV might need to bind with tight junction protein in order to intrude into hepatocyte. On the other hand, extracellular matrix or ECM might play an important role in the development of tight junction. Therefore, this project was devoted to investigate the effect of ECM materials: collagen type I, fibronectin and laminin on tight junction proteins: occludin, claudin and ZO1 of liver cell Huh7.5. The results show that fibronectin is the most favorable ECM material for tight junction protein expression and localization. These results can also be found in research on alveolar epithelial cells. This might support further research on producing desirable platform for liver tissue engineering and investigation on HCV infection on hepatocyte.