LAMININ

7 November 2025

Yesterday I posted a trivia of a diagrammatic drawing of a glycoprotein called laminin.

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🧬 What Is Laminin?

Laminin is a cross-shaped glycoprotein that forms part of the basement membrane — the foundation beneath cells in the skin, muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and organs.

It acts like biological glue, anchoring cells to the extracellular matrix (ECM) and helping tissues stay structured, nourished, and able to repair.

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⚙ What Laminin Does

• Holds cells together and maintains tissue strength

• Guides cell growth, migration, and wound healing

• Supports nerve regeneration and organ function

• Works closely with collagen IV and integrins to form stable tissue networks

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💔 What Happens When Laminin Breaks Down

When laminin is damaged or deficient, the basement membrane weakens — causing loss of cell attachment, inflammation, and tissue degeneration.

This can lead to serious health conditions such as:

- Muscular dystrophy leading to severe muscle weakness.

- Skin blisters easily because cells detach from the basement membrane.

- Kidney issues like

Nephrotic syndrome / glomerulopathy where defective laminin in the glomerular basement membrane causes protein leakage into urine.

- Peripheral neuropathy due to laminin damage that disrupts nerve repair and myelin regeneration.

- Vascular fragility and micro bleeds in brain and blood vessels.

- General aging like

wrinkling, slow healing, and fibrosis.

I can now understand better what holds us up together and what happens if it gets damaged.

I hope this information has been useful to you too and we learnt something together.

Now what can we do to protect our laminins?