The Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing is an academic center affiliated with the Division of Toxicological Sciences in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

 

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

Research Grants 1983-1984

Surface Topography and Tight Junctions Integrity in Epithelial and Endothelial Cell Lines

Michael Edidin, PhD
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

Problem

Damage to the junctional complexes between skin cells may contribute to inflammation by increasing the permeability, or flow of fluids into surrounding tissues.

This study would use fluorescent labeled marking membranes and proteins in epithelial cell cultures to trace the flow of substances inside and through the cell. In addition, the study would examine how drugs and chemical agents influence the normal flow of substances through the cell, how they may alter junctional complexes between cells, and how they may damage membranes.

Impact of the Research

Investigation of such a basic, fundamental system will lend critical information to the underlying nature of the irritant and inflammatory response to drugs and chemicals.