The structure of tight junctions in the ciliary epithelium

The tight junctions of the ciliary epithelium act as a barrier preventing the passage of blood borne macromolecules into the posterior chamber. The use of the freeze-fracture technique has led to a good knowledge of their morphological pattern in various species. However, in order to attempt a correlation of the morphology of the tight junctions with their physiological properties, their intimate substructure must be considered. As in other glutaraldehyde-fixed epithelia, the tight junctions appear as networks (variable in their apico-basal thickness) of more or less discontinuous P-face ridges and as complementary E-face furrows in which some particles or short bars are found. The significance of the discontinuities of ridges has been analysed. The continuity of the junctional fibrils was evident as assessed both by quantitative measurements as well as morphological examination of complementary fracture faces. In addition, the absence of loss of junctional material showed that the integrity of the junction was preserved during the freeze-fracture process, even in conditions where an increase in "transfer" of junctional elements was experimentally induced. Most of all, a "pore system" due to visualizable gaps in the fibrils is not tenable for the ciliary epithelium. Furthermore, the analysis of transition steps at the level of membrane "fusion" showed that the tight junctions of the ciliary epithelium must now be considered as formed by two slightly offset fibrils, one per adjacent plasma membrane.