What is a desmosomes function?

Desmosomes represent major intercellular adhesive junctions at basolateral membranes of epithelial cells and in other tissues. They mediate direct cell-cell contacts and provide anchorage sites for intermediate filaments important for the maintenance of tissue architecture.

What are the desmosomes?

Desmosomes are specialized and highly ordered membrane domains that mediate cell-cell contact and strong adhesion. By mediating both cell–cell adhesion and cytoskeletal linkages, desmosomes mechanically integrate cells within tissues and thereby function to resist mechanical stress [1-3].

What role do desmosomes play in the skin?

Desmosomes are very abundant in the skin and mediate a strong adhesion between the epidermal keratinocytes from the basale cell layer to the stratum corneum. These junctions can rapidly respond to environmental changes, and allow the dynamic processes such as wound healing to occur.

What do desmosomes do in the heart?

A desmosome is a cell structure that anchors the ends of cardiac muscle fibers together so the cells do not pull apart during the stress of individual fibers contracting (Figure 15.22).

Is desmosome an organelle?

Desmosomes and Hemidesmosomes These junctions are functionally alike in their ability to couple the intermediate filament cytoskeleton to sites of cell–cell or cell–substratum contact at the plasma membrane. However, these organelles differ dramatically in their molecular composition and specialized functions.

Can water pass through desmosomes?

Tight junctions block the flow of fluids between epithelial cells. Tight junctions form a water tight seal and prevent material from passing between cells. Desmosomes. Desmosomes form links between cells, and provide a connection between intermediate filaments of the cell cytoskeletons of adjacent cells.

Where are desmosomes useful in the body?

In addition to the epidermis, desmosomes are prominently found in cardiac muscle, both tissues that undergo a high degree of mechanical stress. Interestingly, desmosomal components in mammalian cardiac tissue are intermingled with AJ and gap junction proteins, forming a mixed junction termed the ‘area composita’.

Where are desmosomes found in the skin?

epidermis
The function of desmosomes is to adhere cells together. They are found in high numbers in tissues that are subject to a lot of mechanical forces. For example, many are found in the epidermis, which is the outer layer of skin, and the myocardium, which is muscle tissue in the heart.