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The hemidesmosome: New fine structural features revealed by freeze-fracture techniques

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Summary

Hemidesmosomes along the dermal-epidermal junction of larval and post-metamorphic newt skin have been examined in freeze-fracture replica images correlated with electron micrographs of sectioned material. Larval hemidesmosomal sites are characterized by large (200–300 Å) intramembranous granules arranged into clusters, each of which is aligned with a cytoplasmic hemidesmosomal plaque. In unfixed epidermis the granules remain attached to the A-face, while after glutaraldehyde fixation they are found on both A- and B-faces. Following metamorphosis the clusters are less distinct and localized. Replicas of unfixed B-faces and nearby cytoplasm display elongate, filamentous profiles which traverse the cytoplasmic leaflet and extend onto the B-face. The possibility that these components constitute a filamentous network serving to link tonofilaments, hemidesmosomal plaque, and basal plasmalemma is considered in view of the evidence to date. Hemidesmosomal fine structure as revealed by these studies is compared to features of desmosomes as detailed in the following report.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Structure, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida

    Frances L. Shienvold &  Douglas E. Kelly

  2. The Department of Anatomy, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Frances L. Shienvold &  Douglas E. Kelly

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  1. Frances L. Shienvold
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  2. Douglas E. Kelly
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Additional information

This research was supported by a grant (GB-37204) from the National Science Foundation. High voltage electron microscopy was performed in the research laboratorics of the United States Steel Corporation, Monroeville, Pennsylvania under support of Contract NIH-D RR-70-4136 from the National Institutes of Health. The authors are grateful to Dr. R. M. Fisher and Mr. A. Szirmae for their assistance with high voltage electron microscopy, Dr. David S. Smith and The Papanicolaou Cancer Research Institute, Miami Florida for use of their Balzers freeze-fracture equipment, and to Doctors Richard L. Wood, Gary Wise, and Stephen Meier for critical review of the manuscript and to Mrs. Caroline Brown for devoted secretarial assistance

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Shienvold, F.L., Kelly, D.E. The hemidesmosome: New fine structural features revealed by freeze-fracture techniques. Cell Tissue Res. 172, 289–307 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00399513

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00399513

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