Extracellular matrix distribution

Since the structure of the liver is completely changed during fibrosis, distribution of a liver targeting compound has to be tested in the pathological state as well. Parts of the liver may become inaccessible by portosystemic shunts and individual cells may be hampered in the uptake of compounds by the excess extracellular matrix deposited around them. Uptake processes themselves may also be impaired. The phagocytic activity of KCs has been reported to be depressed in some forms of fibrosis [153,154] and some receptors, such as the... 

Ueda, J., and Yue, B. Y. (2003). Distribution of myocilin and extracellular matrix components in the corneoscleral meshwork of human eyes. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 44, 4772-4779. 

Fibrillin microfibrils are widely distributed extracellular matrix assemblies that endow elastic and non elastic connective tissues with long-range elasticity. They direct tropoelastin deposition during elastic fibrillogenesis and form an outer mantle for mature elastic fibers. Microfibril arrays are also abundant in dynamic tissues that do not express elastin, such as the ciliary zonules of the eye. Mutations in fibrillin-1—the principal structural component of microfibrils—cause Marfan syndrome, a heritable disease with severe aortic, ocular, and skeletal defects. Isolated fibrillin-rich microfibrils have a complex 56 nm beads-on-a-string appearance the molecular basis of their assembly and... 

P. Dandekar. I. AggeJer. and P. Talbot. Structure, distribution and composition of the extracellular matrix of human oocytes and cumulus masses. Bum. Rep rod. 7 391 (1992). 

Studies have suggested that membrane proteins do not always undergo free diffusion in the membrane, and that they may be anchored by proteins of the cytoskelton, by the extracellular matrix or in other ways. Also, membranes are not uniform in their distribution of components, even on one side of the bilayer. They contain many specialized regions or domains, such as clathrin-coated pits, synapses in nerve cells, microvillae, and focal contacts. The lipid and protein composition of the domains are distinct and have been associated with specialized biological functions of the membrane. 

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