Cell Component
hemidesmosome
Subclass of:
Cell-Matrix Junction
Definitions related to hemidesmosomes:
  • A cell-substrate junction (attachment structure) found in epithelial cells that links intermediate filaments to extracellular matrices via transmembrane complexes. In vertebrates, hemidesmosomes mediate contact between the basal side of epithelial cells and the basal lamina. In C. elegans, hemidesmosomes connect epithelial cells to distinct extracellular matrices on both the apical and basal cell surfaces.
    Gene Ontology Dictionary
    Gene Ontology Consortium, 2021
  • Half desmosomes that occur on the basal surface of the stratum basalis of stratified squamous epithelium.
    NCI
    U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
  • An anchoring junction of the cell to a non-cellular substrate, similar in morphology to halves of DESMOSOMES. They are composed of specialized areas of the plasma membrane where INTERMEDIATE FILAMENTS bind on the cytoplasmic face to the transmembrane linkers, INTEGRINS, via intracellular attachment proteins, while the extracellular domain of the integrins binds to EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX PROTEINS.
    NLM Medical Subject Headings
    U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2025
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