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Cell–cell junctions between mammalian (human and rat) hepatic stellate cells

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Abstract

To investigate intercellular junctions between mammalian hepatic stellate cells, we examined cultured human and rat hepatic stellate cells at the ultrastructural and molecular levels. Intercellular junctions between cultured human stellate cells, which developed irrespective of the type of culture substratum, were detected by transmission electron microscopy. On the basis of their characteristic ultrastructure, these junctions were identified in cultured human hepatic stellate cells as adherens junctions but not as tight junctions, desmosomes, or gap junctions. N-cadherin, α-catenin and β-catenin, and p120ctn were detected by Western blotting in rat stellate cells as molecular components of the intercellular adhesive structures. Immunofluorescence for pan-cadherin, α-catenin, and β-catenin were also detected in cultured human stellate cells. Moreover, pan-cadherin and β-catenin were co-localized at the contact regions between the cultured human stellate cells. These data suggest that the junctional adhesion between the stellate cells can be formed both in vivo and in vitro. Thus, hepatic stellate cells may participate in the structural organization of the cells in liver lobules through the formation of intercellular adherens junctions. This is the first description of the presence of cell–cell junctions between hepatic stellate cells in mammals at the fine structural and molecular levels.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Akita University School of Medicine, Akita, 010-8543, Japan

    Nobuyo Higashi, Naosuke Kojima, Mitsutaka Miura, Katsuyuki Imai, Mitsuru Sato & Haruki Senoo

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  1. Nobuyo Higashi
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  2. Naosuke Kojima
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  3. Mitsutaka Miura
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  4. Katsuyuki Imai
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  5. Mitsuru Sato
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  6. Haruki Senoo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Haruki Senoo.

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This work was supported in part by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) (11670001) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan

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Higashi, N., Kojima, N., Miura, M. et al. Cell–cell junctions between mammalian (human and rat) hepatic stellate cells. Cell Tissue Res 317, 35–43 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-004-0891-9

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