title: Regulation of claudins in blood-tissue barriers under physiological and pathological states.
abstract: Claudins are pivotal building blocks of tight junctions that form the paracellular barrier in epithelia and endothelia. In mammals, claudins are a 27-gene family that encodes tetraspan membrane proteins, playing a crucial role in the formation and integrity of tight junctions and regulate the barrier function. Claudin isoforms are expressed in a tissue- and/or developmental stage-dependent manner. A growing body of evidence indicates that pathological states characterized by neuroinflammation, such as Alzheimer disease, multiple sclerosis, diabetic retinopathy and retinopathy of prematurity share a common feature: the barrier breakdown. This review aims integrating and summarizing the most relevant and recent work developed in the field of claudins, with particular attention to their role in blood-brain and blood-retinal barriers, as well as describing their regulation in the aforementioned human diseases.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics; IBILI - Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Life Sciences; Faculty of Medicine; University of Coimbra; Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Andreia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.affiliation: Centre of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences; IBILI; Faculty of Medicine; University of Coimbra; Coimbra, Portugal ; AIBILI; Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: António Francisco
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Ambrósio
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics; IBILI - Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Life Sciences; Faculty of Medicine; University of Coimbra; Coimbra, Portugal ; Centre of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences; IBILI; Faculty of Medicine; University of Coimbra; Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fernandes
keywords: blood-brain barrier; blood-retinal barrier; claudins; paracellular transport; tight junctions