Morphological Differences in the Tight Junction of the Freeze-etched Alveolar Epithelium and Capillary Endothelium in Normal Rat with Morphometry / 第三军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

One hundred and fourteen tight junctions of the alveolar epithelium and capillary endothelium in rat lungs were studied with morphometry by freeze-etching technique. Statistically, there was highly significant difference in the following five aspects between alveolar epithelium and capillary endothelium. ( 1 ) Number of strands (4.54?1.86; 2.64?0.67) . (2) Width of tight junction (0.399? 0.268; 0.175?0.075 micron) . (3) Area of tight junction (0.353?0.35; 0.11 ? 0.098 square micron) . (4) Total length of strands (3.97?3.5; 1.47?0.916 micron) . (5) Morphology of strands and pattern of the tight junction. However, there was no significant difference in density of strands of tight juuctions between the alveolar epithelium and capillary endothelium. The functional significance of these differences between alveolar epithelium and capillary endothelium was discussed in detail.