title: Epithelial microfilament regulators show regional distribution in mouse conjunctiva.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The conjunctival epithelium is a continuous sheet of cells with regional characteristics that appear to be similar. This study was designed to investigate the distribution and levels of expression of a subset of microfilament regulators in the forniceal, palpebral, and bulbar conjunctival epithelia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Balb/C mice were used. The localizations of paxillin, focal adhesion kinase, vinculin, talin1, cofilin, profilin, gelsolin, integrin β1, and integrin α6 were studied with the use of cross-sectional immunofluorescent staining. For a detailed cellular analysis, positioning and ablation with the laser microbeam (PALM) Combi System was used to obtain forniceal, bulbar, and palpebral conjunctival epithelia for expression comparison with the use of western blot analysis and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Immunostaining showed that focal adhesion kinase, cofilin, profilin, gelsolin, talin1, and vinculin were expressed in all layers of the forniceal, palpebral, and bulbar conjunctival epithelia. Paxillin, integrin β1, and α6 was found to be located in the basal cell layer in all three of these areas. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction showed that the transcript levels of these microfilament regulators in the forniceal conjunctivae were higher than those levels found in the bulbar and palpebral conjunctivae. Western blot analysis confirmed the differential expression levels of these microfilament regulators in the forniceal, bulbar, and palpebral conjunctivae.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Differences in the levels of microfilament regulators in the forniceal, bulbar, and palpebral conjunctivae suggest different modes of interaction with their microenvironment and within cell layers.
authors.affiliation: Singapore Eye Research Institute, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Hong-Yuan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Riau
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Beuerman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D003228:Conjunctiva / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D004210:Dissection; D004848:Epithelium / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D007834:Lasers; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009928:Organ Specificity; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D008840:Microfilament Proteins