A. Gow is the first author of a 1999 study testing the function of Claudin-11 in myelin and between Sertoli cells. Mice lacking the corresponding gene had slowed nerve conduction and reproductive abnormalities. Freeze-fracture microscopy showed the absence of characteristic tight junction strands in the affected membrane structures.[ref]
The structural observation narrows the interpretation of the whole-animal changes: a defined membrane component was missing where a particular junctional pattern normally occurs. Absence of those tight junction strands should not be read as absence of all myelin. Combining molecular deletion, microscopy and physiological measurements connected Claudin-11 with junction formation in two different tissue settings.[ref]
CNS myelin and Sertoli cell tight junction strands are absent in Osp/claudin-11 null mice by A. Gow and others. Abstract: myelin/Sertoli junctional strands and neurological/reproductive phenotypes
New to topics? Read the docs here!