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The Epithelial Cell Polarity
Jing-Li Cao, Xue-Liang Zhu*
Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China
Abstract: Cell polarity is a widely existing property in life. Epithelial cells are specialized cells commonly found in epidermis， secretory gland， airway， and digestive tract. They usually polarize along the apical-basal axis， with asymmetrically distributed plasma membrane structure， cytoskeletons， centrosome， endomembrane system， and nucleus. They also form intercellular junctions， such as tight junctions and adherens junctions. These properties render epithelial cells important physiological roles in secretion， absorption， and tissue barrier formation. Many proteins are involved in the establishment and maintenance of the epithelial cell polarity. Among them are three protein complexes termed the Par-aPKC complex， the Scribble (Lgl-Dlg-Scirb) complex， and the Crb (Crb-Pals-PATJ) complex.
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