Structures called desmosomes connect cells to each other and transfer mechanical stress. They are especially important in tissues under continual mechanical stress, such as heart muscle (pictured).

An important discovery about how certain cells stick to each other to form tissue has been made by scientists. The team studied how cells in the skin and heart are bound together through structures ...

Figure 1: Nrf2 regulates the expression of the miR-29 family in mouse skin. Figure 2: Nrf2 binds and activates enhancer elements of mouse and human miR-29a/b1 genes. Figure 5: miR-29s regulate the ...

Microscopy image showing heart muscle cells (gray) in a mouse heart. The plakophilin-2 protein (green) is present in the desmosomes connecting adjacent heart muscle cells. After introduction of the ...

Desmoplakin is a major and essential constituent of the interface between the transmembrane glycoproteins mediating adhesion and the intermediate filament cytoskeleton in the cell interior. The ...

Cell biologists have developed a new method for measuring how mechanical forces in cells are processed. The skin is our largest organ, and, among other things, it provides protection against ...

How does skin hold you in? How do heart cells beat together? Researchers at the University of California, Davis, Department of Biomedical Engineering, are exploring how structures called desmosomes, ...