Basal laminae

This chapter describes the organization of the major proteins that form a basal lamina which connects an epithelium to its underlying stroma (Sect. 1). The organization and major protein composition of oral and gingival epithelium and the junctional epithelial dental attachment at the base of a gingival sulcus are described (Sect. 2). 

Type VII collagen is a non-fibrous, anchoring fibril that binds large type I collagen fibers in the stroma to the lamina densa section of the basal lamina. Type VII procollagen 

Hemidesmosomes (HDs) are membrane-associated adhesive junctions linked to the filamentous networks of the epithelial cell cytoskeleton and the lamina lucida ( light green/ dark blue region in Fig. 5.1). The cytoskeleton of all mammalian cells is composed of three kinds of filaments microfilaments, intermediate filaments and microtubules. Microfilaments 

Alignment of procollagen VII into cysteine cross-linked hexamers (triple helical dimers) 

Chain as so c iation into triple helical protomers 

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ADM may evolve over several years, the extent of fiber atrophy provides an important indication of the chronicity of muscle degeneration. Acute muscle necrosis and phagocytosis give some indication as to how active the disease is at the time of biopsy. In most biopsies from ADM patients, the inflammatory cell foci are perivascular and perimysial rather than endomysial and are dominated by B-lymphocytes. The ratio of T4 lymphocytes (helper cells) to T8 lymphocytes (cytotoxic) generally indicates a predominance of the former. As in JDM, this is consistent with humoral mechanisms of cell damage, and vascular involvement is also apparent in the form of capillary endothelial cell abnormalities (tubular arrays) and duplication of basal lamina. Loss of myofibrillar ATPase from the central portions of fibers is a common prelude to muscle necrosis. 

LAMININ IS A MAJOR PROTEIN COMPONENT OF RENAL GLOMERULAR OTHER BASAL LAMINAS... 

Basal laminas are specialized areas of the ECM that surround epithelial and some other cells (eg, muscle cells) here we discuss only the laminas found in the renal glomerulus. In that strucmre, the basal lamina is contributed by two separate sheets of cells (one endothelial and one epithelial), each disposed on opposite sides of the lamina these three layers make up the glomerular membrane. The primary components of the basal lamina are three proteins—laminin, entactin, and type IV collagen—and the GAG heparin or heparan sulfate. These components are synthesized by the underlying cells. 

The cornea is the first structure of the eye to be in contact with incident light. It is composed of five distinct layers lying parallel to its surface the outer epithelium, which is continuous with the epithelial layers of the conjunctiva the epithelial basal lamina the keratocyte-containing stroma, which is a collagen structure arranged so that it is transparent Descemet s membrane and, finally, the endothelium adjacent to the aqueous humour. 

The mature vitreous contains a class of mononuclear phagocytic cells called hyalocytes (Balzas and Delinger, 1984). These cells are generally embedded in the vitreous humour 20-50 /tM away from the basal lamina, forming a single layer of scattered cells. In the developing eye they are located more centrally and are capable of synthesizing the main solid constituents of the vitreous gel. 

The vasculature is established by the 18th day of gestation in rats, and comes from the arterial supply as the anterior cerebral vessel, eventually entering the basal lamina via septal tributaries of the olfactory artery (Szabo, 1988). Unlike the MOE, the organ s capillaries penetrate in loops into the neuroepithelium. Blood from the vomeronasal complex arrives for collection in the vomeronasal vein, as described earlier [Fig. 2.11(a)]. The establishment of the highly vascular columnar complexes seen in the ophidian organ has not been correlated with functional development (c.f. Wang and Halpem, 1980 Holtzman and Halpem, 1990). 

The Schwann cell is the myelin-producing cell of the peripheral nervous system. When axons leave the CNS, they lose their neuroglial interrelationships and traverse a short transitional zone where they are invested by an astroglial sheath enclosed in the basal lamina of the glia limitans. The basal lamina then becomes continuous with... 

FIGURE 1-19 A myelinated PNS axon (A) is surrounded by a Schwann cell nucleus (N). Note the fuzzy basal lamina around the cell, the rich cytoplasm, the inner and outer mesaxons (arrows), the close proximity of the cell to its myelin sheath and the 1 1 (celhmyelin internode) relationship. A process of an endoneurial cell is seen (lower left), and unstained collagen (c) lies in the endoneurial space (white dots). X20,000. 

FIGURE 4-5 HighermagnificationofFigure4-4toshowtheSchwann cell cytoplasm covered by basal lamina (arrows). 

FIGURE 4-7 A typical CNS myelinated fiber from the spinal cord of an adult dog. Contrast this figure with the PNS fiber in Figure 4-4. The course of the flattened oligodendrocytic process, beginning at the outer tongue (arrow), can be traced. Note that the fiber lacks investing cell cytoplasm and a basal lamina-as is the case in the PNS. The major dense line and the paler, double intraperiod line of the myelin sheath can be discerned. The axon contains microtubules and neurofilaments. 

The postsynaptic membrane opposite release sites is also highly specialized, consisting of folds of plasma membrane containing a high density of nicotinic ACh receptors (nAChRs). Basal lamina matrix proteins are important for the formation and maintenance of the NMJ and are concentrated in the cleft. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE), an enzyme that hydrolyzes ACh to acetate and choline to inactivate the neurotransmitter, is associated with the basal lamina (see Ch. 11). 

The second class of AChEs exists as heteromeric assemblies of catalytic and structural subunits. One form consists of up to 12 catalytic subunits linked by disulfide bonds to filamentous, collagen-containing structural subunits. These forms are often termed asymmetric, since the tail unit imparts substantial dimensional asymmetry to the molecule. The collagenous tail unit links by disulfide bonding at its proline rich N-terminus through a coiled coil arrangement to the C-terminus of two of the catalytic subunits [30]. The tail unit associates with the basal lamina of the synapse rather than the plasma membrane. 

Sanes, J. R. The basement membrane/basal lamina of skeletal muscle. /. Biol. Chem. 278,12601-12604,2003. 

The molecular and cellular events during Wallerian degeneration in the peripheral nervous system transform the damaged nerve into an environment that supports regeneration 518 Both Schwann cells and basal lamina are required for axonal regeneration... 

The lepromatous form of leprosy is characterized by loss ofcutaneoussensibility. Hansen sbacillus(Mycobacterium leprae), which proliferates only in environments cooler than the core temperature maintained by most mammals, is capable of infecting Schwann cells in subcutaneous nerves because the basal lamina of these cells contains a-dystroglycan, to which this mycobacterium binds, and because subcutaneous nerves are often cooler than deeper tissues. Lepromatous neuropathy is a common cause of sensory mononeuropathy multiplex in the developing World [16,17]. 

FIGURE 43-2 Photomicrograph of the human neuromuscular junction. In normal muscle, Ach receptors are associated with the terminal expansions of the junctional folds and the architecture of the postjunctional membrane follows closely the distribution of active zones in the presynaptic membrane, b, basal lamina I, infoldings m, mitochondria M, myocyte N, nerve terminal r, ribosomes s, synaptic space S, Schwann cell. Courtesy of A. Engel. 

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