Zinc enhances intestinal epithelial barrier function through the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in Caco-2 cells

Zinc plays an important role in maintaining intestinal barrier function, as well as modulating cellular signaling recognition and protein kinase activities. The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) cascade has been demonstrated to affect intercellular integrity and tight junction (TJ) proteins. The current study investigated the hypothesis that zinc regulates intestinal intercellular junction integrity through the PI3K/protein kinase B (AKT)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway. A transwell model of Caco-2 cell was incubated with 0, 50, 100 μM of zinc at various time points.
Source: The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Source Type: research