Open AccessElectron microscope tomography: further demonstration of nanocontacts between caveolae and smooth muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum
Author(s) -
Gherghiceanu Mihaela,
Popescu L.M.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of cellular and molecular medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.44
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1582-4934
pISSN - 1582-1838
DOI - 10.1111/j.1582-4934.2007.00166.x
Subject(s) - caveolae , endoplasmic reticulum , cytoplasm , electron tomography , transmission electron microscopy , electron microscope , microbiology and biotechnology , tomography , chemistry , anatomy , cell , biophysics , biology , nanotechnology , materials science , physics , biochemistry , scanning transmission electron microscopy , optics
A spatial relationship between caveolae and sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) in smooth muscle cells (SMC) was previously reported in computer‐assisted three‐dimensional reconstruction from transmission electron microscope serial sections. The knowledge of the three‐dimensional organization of the cortical space of SMC is essential to understand caveolae function at the cellular level. Cellular tomography using transmission electron microscopy tomography (EMT) is the only available technology to reliably chart the inside of a cell and is therefore an essential technology in the study of organellar nanospatial relationships. Using EMT we further demonstrate here that caveolae and peripheral SR in visceral SMC build constantly spatial units, presumably responsible for a vectorial control of free Ca 2+ cytoplasmic concentrations in definite nanospaces.