paranodal junction maintenance
paranodal junction maintenance
The maintenance of a paranodal junction, a highly specialized cell-cell junction found in vertebrates, which forms between a neuron and a glial cell, and has structural similarity to Drosophila septate junctions. A paranodal junction flanks the node of Ranvier in myelinated nerve, electrically isolates the myelinated from unmyelinated nerve segments, and physically separates the voltage-gated sodium channels at the node from the cluster of potassium channels underneath the myelin sheath.