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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Dig Liver Dis. 2014 Mar 12;46(6):527–534. doi: 10.1016/j.dld.2014.01.159

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Chenodeoxycholic acid and deoxycholic acid disrupts endothelial tight junctions. (A) Confluent monolayers of brain microvessel endothelial cells were treated with either vehicle, chenodeoxycholic acid or deoxycholic acid and the tight junction protein occludin and tight junction-associated proteins ZO-1 and ZO-2 (red) were stained and cells were counterstained with DAPI (blue). Vehicle-treated cells show continuous staining along cell margins indicating intact tight junctions. Treatment with 100μM chenodeoxycholic acid or deoxycholic acid for 24 hours disrupts tight junctions leaving gaps at the cell margins. Scale bar represents 50 μm. Arrows indicate sites of disruption (B) Brain microvessel endothelial cells were treated with vehicle or deoxycholic acid and membrane localization of occludin, ZO-1 and ZO-2 were determined via immunoblot analyses. Vehicle-treated cells show a higher degree of occludin, ZO-1 and ZO-2 expression in the membrane compared to deoxycholic acid-treated cells. Pan-cadherin was used as a membrane loading control. (DCA; deoxycholic acid, CDCA; chenodeoxycholic acid)