Cell junction

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A cell junction is a structure within a tissue of a multicellular organism. Cell junctions are especially abundant in epithelial tissues. They consist of protein complexes and provide contact between neighbouring cells, between a cell and the extracellular matrix, or they built up the paracellular barrier of epithelia and control the paracellular transport.

In vertebrates, there are three major types of cell junctions:

Invertebrates have several other types of specific junctions, for example Septate junctions or the CeAJ (C. elegans apical junction).

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Histology: epithelial tissue

Types: Columnar (simple, stratified) - Cuboidal (simple, stratified) - Pseudostratified/Respiratory - Squamous (simple, stratified) - Transitional - Olfactory

Features: Lateral/cell-cell: Tight junction - Adherens junction - Desmosome - Gap junction Basal/cell-matrix: Basal lamina - Hemidesmosome - Focal adhesion Apical: Cilia - Microvilli - Stereocilia

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Structures of the cell membrane

Caveolae/Coated pits - Cell junctions - Glycocalyx - Lipid raft/microdomains - Myelin sheath - Nodes of Ranvier Nuclear envelope - Phycobilisomes

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