Basement membranes molecular structure

BASEMENT MEMBRANE PROTEINS MOLECULAR STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION... 

Kramer, R. H., Enenstein, J., and Waleh, N. S., Integrin structure and ligand specificity in cell-matrix interactions, in Molecular and Cellular Aspects of Basement Membranes (D. H. Rohrbach and R. Timpl, Eds.), pp. 239-258. Academic Press, New York, 1993. 

The basement membrane zone or epidermal-dermal junction is a thin extracellular matrix that separates the epidermis from the dermis. It is a highly specialized structure recognized with the light microscope as a thin, homogeneous band. Ultra-structurally, it can be divided into four component layers (1) the cell membrane of the basal epithelial cell, which includes the hemidesmosomes (2) the lamina ludda (lamina rara) (3) the lamina densa (basal lamina) and (4) the subbasal lamina (sublamina densa or reticular lamina), with a variety of fibrous structures (anchoring fibrils, dermal microfibril bundles, microthreadlike filaments) (Briggaman and Wheeler, 1975). The basement membrane has a complex molecular architecture with numerous components that play a key role in adhesion of the epidermis to the dermis. The macromolecules that are ubiquitous components of all basement membranes... 

One of the mostly researched biomaterials used in various fields of medicine is natural polymer-collagen. Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body (skin, bones, teeth, tendons, cartilage, basement membrane, cornea, etc.). It can be used by different processing techniques in large various molecular structures (micro and nanostructures) as powder, injectable solutions, films, membrane and matrices (sponges). 

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