Figure 6

Inhibition of NM II attenuates disassembly of epithelial apical junctions induced by activation of PKC. (A) HPAF-II cells were treated for 5 h with either OI-V alone (1 μM), or in a combination with pharmacological inhibitors of NM II, blebbistatin (100 μM). Blebbistatin significantly attenuates disassembly of E-cadherin-based AJ and occludin-based TJ induced by the PKC activator. (B) HPAF-II cells were transfected with either control or NM IIA-specific siRNAs and exposed to 1 μM OI-V for 5 h on day 3 post-transfection. In contrast to control cell monolayers, NM IIA-depleted cells do not respond to PKC activator by junctional disassembly and retain their occludin in the areas of cell-cell contacts (arrows). Bar, 20 μm.