Cadherin-mediated adhesion is essential for myofibril continuity across the plasma membrane but not for assembly of the contractile apparatus.

摘要: The strong coordinated contraction of heart muscle is dependent on the correct alignment and connection myofibrils across plasma membrane. Previous studies indicate that N-cadherin involved in cardiac myocyte adhesion myofibrillogenesis. To investigate whether specifically required for normal structure function, we cultured myocytes from wild-type, N-cadherin-null mutant embryos expressing epithelial cadherin E-cadherin. In contrast to previous chicken using N-cadherin-perturbing antibodies, our vitro with mouse cells demonstrate not myofibrillogenesis, but critical myofibril organization. That is, N-cadherin-deficient beat were well formed; however, through regions cell-cell contact was lost, resulting their random orientation. Gap junctions perturbed myocytes. By contrast, focal contacts appeared cells. Furthermore, E-cadherin restored cell morphology behavior myocytes, including proper myofibrils. We conclude a different adhesive system, most probably integrin, responsible myofibrillogenesis