Capturing Rare Conductance in Epithelia with Potentiometric-Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy.
Tight junctions (TJs) are barrier forming structures of epithelia and can be described as tightly sealed intercellular spaces. Transport properties have been extensively studied for bicellular TJs (bTJs). Knowledge of the barrier functions of tricellular junctions (tTJs) are less well understood, due largely to a lack of proper techniques to locally measure discrete tTJ properties within a much larger area of epithelium. In this study, we use a nanoscale pipet to precisely locate tTJs within epithelia and measure the apparent local conductance of tTJs with a technique termed potentiometric scanning ion conductance microscopy (P-SICM). P-SICM shows the ability to differentiate transport through tTJs and bTJs, which was not possible with previous techniques and assays. We describe P-SICM investigations of both wild type and tricellulin overexpression Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (strain II, MDCKII) cells.
Department of Chemistry, Indiana University , 800 E. Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, United States.
Lushan
L
Zhou
Renal Division, Washington University Medical School , 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, United States.
Yongfeng
Y
Gong
Renal Division, Washington University Medical School , 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, United States.
Abby
A
Sunq
Renal Division, Washington University Medical School , 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, United States.|Center for Investigation of Membrane Excitability Diseases, Washington University Medical School , 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, United States.
Jianghui
J
Hou
Department of Chemistry, Indiana University , 800 E. Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, United States.
Lane A
LA
Baker
D000818:Animals; D004285:Dogs; D004848:Epithelium / Q000737:chemistry*; D062794:MARVEL Domain Containing 2 Protein / Q000032:analysis*; D061985:Madin Darby Canine Kidney Cells; D064347:Microscopy, Electrochemical, Scanning; D010316:Particle Size; D011199:Potentiometry
D062794:MARVEL Domain Containing 2 Protein