Heterogeneity of tight junction morphology in extrapulmonary and intrapulmonary airways of the rat.

In the present study morphology of tight junctions was related to the various cell types lining extrapulmonary and intrapulmonary airways of the rat. Freeze fracture replicas were prepared from extrapulmonary airway epithelium derived from the cartilagenous and membranous sides of upper, middle, and lower thirds of the trachea. Intrapulmonary airway epithelium was obtained from airways less than 1 mm in diameter. Tight junction fibrils on the P fracture face were organized into three types of patterns. Type 1: parallel sparsely interconnected lumenal fibrils with large ablumenal fibril loops. Type 2: richly interconnected lumenal fibrils with large ablumenal fibril loops. Type 3: narrow network of interconnected fibrils. On the E fracture face complementary grooves were organized in a similar pattern. Ciliated cells on both sides and all levels of the trachea were associated with type 1 junctions. In intrapulmonary airways, however, the junctional pattern of ciliated cells changed to type 2. Brush cells at all levels of the airways were bounded by type 2 and occasionally by type 1 junctions. Secretory cell junctions displayed the following patterns: Mucous cells were bounded solely by type 3, serous cells by either types 2 or 3, and Clara cells predominantly by type 2. Cells tentatively identified as intermediate cells displayed all three junctional patterns. The number of parallel fibrils comprising tight junctions was higher in extrapulmonary as compared to intrapulmonary airways. No difference was seen in the various locations sampled in the trachea. Gap junctions were observed between secretory cells of extrapulmonary but not intrapulmonary airways. These observations are discussed in relation to current physiologic data.