Hemidesmosome

Hemidesmosomes are cell structures in cell membranes that create a connection between cells and basal lamina .

Under an electron microscope they look like half desmosomes . Just like these, they serve to stabilize the epithelial cells and are intracellularly linked to the intermediate filaments , but they do not connect different cells with one another, but rather connect the basal surface of the epithelial cells with the underlying basal lamina . The extracellular adhesion molecules here are not desmogleins as in the desmosomes, but integrins . The extracellular domains of the integrin bind to laminin proteins in the basal lamina. Hemidesmosomes are particularly expressed by epithelial cells. The intracellular domain of the integrin binds to keratin filaments via anchor proteins ( plectin ) . In contrast to the desmosomes, the ends of the keratin filaments are often anchored in the hemidesmosomes.

Autoantibodies against hemidesmosomes lead to the disease of bullous pemphigoid .

See also

• Cell contact Overview of the different types of cell contact
• Tight junction
• Adherens junction
• Desmosome
• Focal adhesion
• Gap junction

Web links

• Université de Friborg, Département de Médecine: Intercellular connections (with drawings)

literature

• Alberts, B. et al .: Molecular Biology of the Cell . Garland Science, 4th edition, 2002. ISBN 0815340729 .