The intestinal epithelium serves as a physical barrier between the gut lumen and the body that interacts and protects the body from harmful bacteria in the lumen. These barriers of the intestinal epithelium are regulated by plasma membrane structures called tight junctions (Ivanov 2012). When pathogens affect the intestinal epithelium, the disease-related increase in the intestine is caused by defects in the tight junction structure and functions which can be caused by the pathogens.
Pathogens affect host intestinal epithelial cells in different ways. They utilize and impact on different physiological functions of the intestinal epithelium. In the past there was not much research in the area on …show more content…
Disruption of specific tight junction proteins can result from degradation by bacterial derived proteases or by biochemical alterations such as phosphorylation or dephosphorylation (Berkes 2003). Such alterations can lead to some discomposure in epithelial functions such as establishing electrochemical gradients. This paper will discuss whether a specific bacteria, associated with food poisoning, affects the tight junctions in epithelial cells which then disrupts its cytoskeleton leading the bacteria to affect the body and cause the …show more content…
Western blotting will help in observing the tight junction proteins from the two experimental groups. The confocal microscopy when compared will show how the bacteria has affected the tight junction by observing the changes in actin filaments of the tight junction. The fluorescent tags on the actin filaments will help in keeping track of its movements when observing the result of the experiment. If the actin filaments of the group of cells that were exposed to the bacteria significantly differ from the group that was not then it can be concluded that the bacteria dos affect the cytoskeletal structure and tight junction proteins of the