Abstract
Indirect immunofluorescence microscopy was used to localize microfilament-associated proteins in the brush border of mouse intestinal epithelial cells. As expected, antibodies to actin decorated the microfilaments of the microvilli, giving rise to a very intense fluorescence. By contrast, antibodies to myosin, tropomyosin, filamin, and alpha-actinin did not decorate the microvilli. All these antibodies, however, decorated the terminal web region of the brush border. Myosin, tropomyosin, and alpha-actinin, although present throughout the terminal web, were found to be preferentially located around the periphery of the organelle. Therefore, two classes of microfilamentous structures can be documented in the brush border. First, the highly ordered microfilaments which make up the cores of the microvilli apparently lack the associated proteins. Second, seemingly less-ordered microfilaments are found in the terminal web, in which region the myosin, tropomyosin, filamin and alpha-actinin are located.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.6 MB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Bretscher A., Weber K. Purification of microvilli and an analysis of the protein components of the microfilament core bundle. Exp Cell Res. 1978 Oct 15;116(2):397–407. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(78)90463-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Franke W. W., Rathke P. C., Seib E., Trendelenburg M. F., Osborn M., Weber K. Distribution and mode of arrangement of microfilamentous structures and actin in the cortex of the amphibian oocyte. Cytobiologie. 1976 Dec;14(1):111–130. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Heggeness M. H., Wang K., Singer S. J. Intracellular distributions of mechanochemical proteins in cultured fibroblasts. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Sep;74(9):3883–3887. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.9.3883. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lazarides E., Burridge K. Alpha-actinin: immunofluorescent localization of a muscle structural protein in nonmuscle cells. Cell. 1975 Nov;6(3):289–298. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(75)90180-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lazarides E. Tropomyosin antibody: the specific localization of tropomyosin in nonmuscle cells. J Cell Biol. 1975 Jun;65(3):549–561. doi: 10.1083/jcb.65.3.549. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lazarides E. Two general classes of cytoplasmic actin filaments in tissue culture cells: the role of tropomyosin. J Supramol Struct. 1976;5(4):531(383)–563(415). doi: 10.1002/jss.400050410. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lazarides E., Weber K. Actin antibody: the specific visualization of actin filaments in non-muscle cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1974 Jun;71(6):2268–2272. doi: 10.1073/pnas.71.6.2268. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mooseker M. S. Brush border motility. Microvillar contraction in triton-treated brush borders isolated from intestinal epithelium. J Cell Biol. 1976 Nov;71(2):417–433. doi: 10.1083/jcb.71.2.417. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mooseker M. S., Tilney L. G. Organization of an actin filament-membrane complex. Filament polarity and membrane attachment in the microvilli of intestinal epithelial cells. J Cell Biol. 1975 Dec;67(3):725–743. doi: 10.1083/jcb.67.3.725. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Rodewald R., Newman S. B., Karnovsky M. J. Contraction of isolated brush borders from the intestinal epithelium. J Cell Biol. 1976 Sep;70(3):541–554. doi: 10.1083/jcb.70.3.541. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Tilney L. G., Mooseker M. Actin in the brush-border of epithelial cells of the chicken intestine. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1971 Oct;68(10):2611–2615. doi: 10.1073/pnas.68.10.2611. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Weber K., Pollack R., Bibring T. Antibody against tuberlin: the specific visualization of cytoplasmic microtubules in tissue culture cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1975 Feb;72(2):459–463. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.2.459. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]