Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Functional Assessment of Intestinal Tight Junction Barrier and Ion Permeability in Native Tissue by Ussing Chamber Technique
Published on: May 26, 2021
Claudins at the gate: determinants of renal epithelial tight junction paracellular permeability
1Dept. of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1530 3rd Avenue South, LHRB 642, Birmingham, AL 35294-0007, USA. balkovet@uab.edu
Abstract:
The epithelial tight junction (TJ) is responsible for the control of paracellular transport between epithelial cells (gate function) and the maintenance of apical/basolateral polarity by preventing the diffusion of membrane lipids and/or proteins from one surface domain to another (fence function). Renal tubule epithelia in the mammalian nephron have TJs that determine paracellular transport characteristics. Paracellular transport across renal tubular epithelial TJs (gate function) varies in different segments of the nephron. A large family of recently identified TJ-associated transmembrane proteins named claudins appear to determine the paracellular permeability properties of the TJ. A combination of inherited human diseases, renal epithelial cell culture models, and nephron expression patterns of claudins is providing important clues about how claudin molecules determine the TJ gate function of renal epithelia in different segments of the nephron.
Related Concept Videos
Tight Junctions
Adherens Junctions
Adherens Junctions are Dynamic
The endothelial cells...
Reabsorption and Secretion in the Loop of Henle
Physiology of the Genitourinary System II: Tubular Reabsorption and Secretion
Transcellular Transport of Solutes
Overview of Cell-Cell Junctions
Occluding or Tight Junctions
Tight...
