Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32820467›Full record

ReviewCardiovascular engineering and technology2021

The Role of Tricellular Junctions in the Transport of Macromolecules Across Endothelium.

Mean Ghim, Yumnah Mohamied, Peter D Weinberg

Open access · hybridAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Cardiovascular engineering and technology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
0.9field-weighted citation impact, top 25% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Transcytosis of LDL Across Arterial Endothelium: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Targets.Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.

Mean GhimDepartment of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK.
Yumnah MohamiedDepartment of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK.
Peter D WeinbergDepartment of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK. p.weinberg@imperial.ac.uk.
Imperial College London · GB

Funding

British Heart Foundation PG/15/102/31890
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeTransport of water and solutes across vascular endothelium is important in normal physiology and critical in the development of various diseases, including atherosclerosis. However, there is debate about the routes for such transport. We recently showed that an albumin-sized tracer crossed endothelium at bicellular and tricellular junctions, a tracer having the size of high density lipoprotein crossed only through tricellular junctions, and a tracer with the size of low density lipoprotein was unable to cross by either route and instead traversed the cells themselves. Here we review previous work on the structure and function of tricellular junctions. We then describe a study in which we assessed the role of such junctions in the transport of an albumin-sized tracer.

methodsWe examined normal endothelial monolayers, the effect of agonists that modify their permeability, and the influence of different patterns of shear stress.

resultsUnder normal conditions, approximately 85% of transendothelial transport occurred through tricellular junctions. This fraction was unchanged when permeability was reduced by sphingosine-1-phosphate or increased by thrombin, and also did not differ between endothelium exposed to multidirectional as opposed to uniaxial shear stress despite a > 50% difference in permeability.

conclusionThese data show that tricellular junctions dominate normal transport of this tracer and largely determine influences of agonists and shear. The effects were attributable to changes in both the number and conductivity of the junctions. Further investigation of these structures will lead to increased understanding of endothelial barrier function and may suggest new therapeutic strategies in disease.

Indexed as

Endothelium, VascularPermeabilityStress, MechanicalDeep learningEndothelial cellEpitheliumFITC-avidinHemodynamicsIntercellular cleftSwirling well

Identifiers

PMID32820467
PMCPMC7904563
OpenAlexW3053212873

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.