Basement membranes self-assembly

Yurchenco, P.D., Smirnov, S., and Mathus, T., Analysis of basement membrane self-assembly and cellular interactions with native and recombinant glycoproteins, Meth. Cell Biol. 69,111-44,2002. 

Yurchenco, P. D., and Furthmayr, H. (1984). Self-assembly of basement membrane collagen. Biochemistry 23, 1839-1850. 

In summary, both collagen IV and laminin show the ability to self-assemble. In addition, the various components of basement membrane have an affinity for one another that involves binding to specific sites. These interactions generate rather defined aggregates in solution and lead to the deposition of the components in a gel-like form whose ultrastructure resembles in some details authentic basement membranes. Such multiple interactions would be expected to be stronger than single interactions and may account for the codistributions of these components in basement membranes. 

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