title: Degradation of tight junctions in HT29, a human colon adenocarcinoma cell line.
abstract: The process of tight junction degradation was followed in a cell line of human colon adenocarcinoma. Tight junctions are degraded by 2 mechanisms: (1) breakdown of junctional elements to intramembrane particles; (2) bleb formation by which tight-junctional elements are internalized into the cytoplasm or excluded into the medium. It is suggested that the first mechanism allows preservation of membrane particles for re-use, whereas the second is a mechanism by which the cells eliminate unneeded junctional elements.
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D002460:Cell Line; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005614:Freeze Fracturing; D006801:Humans; D007365:Intercellular Junctions / Q000187:drug effects / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D014357:Trypsin / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D014357:Trypsin