Multilamellar bodies

Figure 11.1 Ultrastructure of the human lung alveolar barrier. The tissue specimen is obtained via lung resection surgery. (A) Section through a septal wall of an alveolus. The wall is lined by a thin cellular layer formed by alveolar epithelial type I cells (ATI). Connective tissues (ct) separate ATI cells from the capillary endothelium (en) within which an erythrocyte (er) and granulocyte (gc) can be seen. The minimal distance between the alveolar airspace (ai) and erythrocyte is about 800-900 nm. The endothelial nucleus is denoted as n. (B) Details of the lung alveolar epithelial and endothelial barriers. Numerous caveolae (arrows) are seen in the apical and basal plasma membranes of an ATI cell as well as endothelial cell (en) membranes. Caveolae may partake transport of some solutes (e.g., albumin). (C) ATII cells (ATII) are often localised in the comers of alveoli where septal walls branch off. (D) ATII cells are characterised by numerous multilamellar bodies (mlb) which contain components of surfactant. A mitochondrion is denoted as mi.

Furuse M, Fujimoto K, Sato N, Hirase T, Tsukita S, and Tsukita S [1996] Overexpression of occludin, a tight junction-associated integral membrane protein, induces the formation of intracellular multilamellar bodies bearing tight junction-like structures. J Cell Sci 109 429-435... 

Phospholipidosis (e.g., Nile red, lysotracker dyes, electron microscopy of lysosomal multilamellar bodies), vacuolization, autophagy, lysosomal uptake assays for cell viability (e.g., neutral red)... 

Jiang, J., Skelly, P.J., Shoemaker, C.B. and Caulfield, J.P. (1996) Schistosoma mansoni the glucose transport protein SGTP4 is present in tegumental multilamellar bodies, discoid bodies and the surface lipid bilayers. Experimental Parasitology 82, 201-210. 

Gross SK, Daniel PF, Evans JE, McClure RH (1991) Lipid composition of lysosomal multilamellar bodies of male mouse urine. J Lipid Res 32 157-164... 

McDiarmid, S. S., Podesta, R. B. and Rahman, S. M. (1982) Preparation and partial characterization of a multilamellar body fraction from Schistosoma mansoni. Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. 5 93-105. 

Multilamellar bodies, as seen in the neurohypophysis of the hedgehog (Holmes and Kiernan 1964), the rabbit and the rainbow trout (Lederis 1964), were also observed in the human neurohypo-... 

A large body of scientific evidence suggests that carotenoids scavenge and deactivate free radicals both in vitro and in vivo. It has been reported that their antioxidant action is determined by (1) electron transfer reactions and the stability of the antioxidant free radical (2) the interplay with other antioxidants and (3) their structure and the oxygen pressure of the microenvironment. Moreover, the antioxidant activity of carotenoids is characterized by literature data for (1) their relative rate of oxidation by a range of free radicals, or (2) their capacity to inhibit lipid peroxidation in multilamellar liposomes. ... 

As the skin has evolved to impede the flux of toxins into the body and minimize water loss, it shows a very low permeability to the penetration of foreign molecules [169]. A unique hierarchical structure of lipid-rich matrix with embedded corneocyte in the upper strata (15 pm) of the skin—the stratum corneum (SC)—is essentially responsible for this barrier. The corneocytes, comprising cross-linked keratin fibers, are about 0.2-0.4 pm thick and about 40 pm wide [170]. They are held together by corneodesmosomes, which confer structural stability to the SC. The SC lipids are composed primarily of ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids that are assembled into multilamellar bilayers. This unusual extracellular matrix of lipid bilayers serves the primary barrier function of the SC. The layer of lipids immediately adjacent to each corneocyte is covalently bound to the corneocyte and is important in maintaining barrier function. The SC... 

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