The structure of junctions between lens fiber cells.
Junctions which have been isolated from bovine lens may correspond to the tongue-and groove interdigitations observed between intact cells. These junctions have an overall thickness of 13-14 nm, a striking undulating surface topology, and contain protein subunits of congruent to 27 000 daltons which are arranged in a 6.6-6.7-nm square lattice in the plane of each membrane. A similar square-lattice structure has been observed in junctions from fragments of intact rate lens. Junctions from both sources are structurally different from "typical' gap junctions.
D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D005614:Freeze Fracturing; D007365:Intercellular Junctions / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction