Laminin α1-Chain Shows a Restricted Distribution in Epithelial Basement Membranes of Fetal and Adult Human Tissues

laminin alpha 1gene is essential for normal lens development in zebrafish

“…Embryos ranging from the 16-32-cell stage to 120-hpf, as well as different adult tissues were examined for the presence of the lama1 transcript. Expression of lama1 was strong during embryonic development and depleted in most adult tissues, which is consistent with the previously reported data ([12,13], and [22]). First lama1 transcripts were detected in 3-8 hpf embryos (encompasses embryos at 1k-cell stage of blastula to 75%-epiboly stage of gastrula) and expression continued at later embryonic and larval stages of development (Figure 3).…”

“…The following high-expression sites were identified in the developing embryo: lens, brain, somites, urogenital system, and notochord. This pattern is consistent with distribution of Lama1 transcripts in other species ([12,13,22,41,47], and [48]) and suggests a high degree of conservation in laminin alpha 1 function during embryonic development in vertebrates. The evolutionarily conserved expression of lama1 is likely to be governed by a network of specific regulatory elements maintained in phylogenetically divergent species.…”

“…Laminin-1 shows restricted expression that is largely limited to epithelial basement membranes. Laminin-1 is detected in most embryonic tissues during early morphogenesis and remains present as a major epithelial laminin in some adult tissues [2,11-13]. Mice that are deficient in any chain that composes laminin-1 (α1β1γ1) die during the early postimplantation period with the Lama1 -/- phenotype being the mildest of the three genes deleted [14,15].…”

“…Expression of lama1 is detected in the nervous and urogenital systems, pre-somitic mesoderm, some brain blood vessels and in the embryonic and mature lens ([12,13,15], and [22]). The important role of laminins/extracellular matrix/basement membranes in eye development and in an adult ocular function has been discussed in several reports [23-26] but the specific roles of different laminin subunits are only beginning to be elucidated.…”

Differential expression of the integrins α6Aβ4 and α6Bβ4 along the crypt–villus axis in the human small intestine

“…Positional control of the enterocytes and their subsequent function is controlled by cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions with the underlying BM (Teller and Beaulieu 2001). The importance of the latter is exempliWed by the inductive eVects on enterocytic cytology by speciWc laminin variants (Vachon and Beaulieu 1995;Virtanen et al 2000), while analysis of several molecules involved in cell-ECM interactions, including integrins, has revealed distinct patterns of expression along the crypt-villus axis in relation to the diVerentiation state of enterocytes (Beaulieu 1997;Teller and Beaulieu 2001). Furthermore, the 6 4 integrin has been shown to be an important player in mediating migration and invasion of colon cancer cells (Lohi et al 2000;Mercurio and Rabinovitz 2001;Ni et al 2005;Pouliot et al 2001).…”