Figure - PMC

Skip to main content

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

View full-text article in PMC

. 2021 Sep 13;8:718356. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2021.718356

Search in PMC
Search in PubMed
View in NLM Catalog
Add to search

Copyright © 2021 Barbara, Barbaro, Fuschi, Palombo, Falangone, Cremon, Marasco and Stanghellini.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

PMC Copyright notice

Schematic representation of the junctional complex in intestinal epithelium. Molecules can cross the intestinal epithelial monolayer through the intercellular space (paracellular route) or through the cells (transcellular route). The junctional complex involved in paracellular pathway includes tight junctions, adherens junctions, gap junctions and desmosomes. Tight junctions are composed of transmembrane proteins such as claudins, occludin, junctional adhesion molecule (JAM), and zonula occludens proteins (ZOs). ZOs, act as scaffold proteins, connecting claudins and occludin to cytoskeletal actin.