Pericellular hyaluronan coat visualized in live cells with a fluorescent probe is scaffolded by plasma membrane protrusions.

ABSTRACT: Many cell types wear up to 20-mum-wide hyaluronidase-sensitive surface coats, detected by exclusion of sedimenting particles like fixed erythrocytes. The structure of the coat is enigmatic, being apparently too thick to be accounted by random coils or even extended chains of just hyaluronan attached to cell surface. We have shown that hyaluronan synthesis enforced by green fluorescent protein-hyaluronan synthase transfection creates microvillous protrusions. The idea that the plasma membrane protrusions rather than hyaluronan alone is responsible for the exclusion space was studied with a fluorescent probe for hyaluronan and a dye with membrane affinity, applied to live cell cultures. Mesothelial and smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts, and chondrocytes, all known for their endogenously activ

SUBMITTER: Rilla K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2544615 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature