EM 302 Thin Skin

Links: Click to navigate to a specific region
Images: Click to show this view
Toolbar: Use controls to adjust magnification and pan the image

Hemidesmosomes

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of the basal surface of a keratinocyte in the stratum basale of thin skin.

Hemidesmosomes are specialized junctional complexes that anchor an epithelium to the underlying connective tissue.

(green) - basal surface of an epithelial cell in the stratum basale
- Plasma Membrane (dark green)
- Keratin Filaments (black) - intermediate filaments found in epithelial cells
Hemidesmosomes (,,) - junctional complexes that anchor epithelial cells to the basal lamina
- Attachment Plaque (red) - dense protein plaque inside the plasma membrane connected to keratin filaments (black)
- Integrins (yellow) - transmembrane linker proteins that extend into thw basal lamina
  - This is different than desmosomes where the transmembrane linker proteins are cadherins.
Basal Lamina (purple)
Anchoring Filaments (,; red) - type VII collagen fibers that extend from the basal lamina into the extracellular matrix
(brown) - many fibers are seen in longitudinal and cross-sections

A with several non-myelinated nerve fibers (yellow) is seen close to the epidermis. They are wrapped by processes from Schwann cells (tan).

Courtesy of Karen Hollbrook, Department of Biological Structure, University of Washington, School of Medicine, Seattle, WA.