The fate of desmosomes in trypsinized tissue

Abstract

Embryonic animal epithelial tissue in which desmosomes are well developed has been dispersed by trypsinization and the behavior of desmosomal halves observed. An earlier report left open the question of whether desmosomes were broken down or reincorporated into the reorganized tissue. A more detailed study shows that dispersed cells, or cells which are partially separated, phagocytize half desmosomes left at the cell surface. The resulting vacuoles are angular during early stages of the process indicating that desmosomes are relatively rigid. They later become spherical and characteristic desmosomal morphology disappears. These results are discussed in connection with morphology in genetic disturbances and in development.