Inferior vena cava. The inferior vena cava (or IVC) (Latin: vena, vein, cavus, hollow) is a large vein that carries deoxygenated blood from the lower and middle body into the right atrium of the heart. Its walls are rigid and has valves so the blood does not flow down via gravity.
Tight Junctions The tight junction (also referred to as a zonula occludens) is a site where the membranes of two cells come very close together. In fact, the outer leaflets of the membranes of the contacting cells appear to be fused. Tight junctions, as their name implies, act as a barrier so that materials cannot pass between two interacting cells.
Epithelial cells are held together by strong anchoring (zonula adherens) junctions. The adherens junction lies below the tight junction (occluding junction). In the gap (about 15-20nm) between the two cells, there is a protein called cadherin-a cell membrane glycoprotein.(The type of cadherin found here is E-cadherin). occluding junctions (zonula occludens or tight junctions). 2  adhering junctions (zonula adherens). 3  desmosomes (macula adherens). 4  There are also ' hemidesmosomes ' that lie on the basal membrane, to help stick the cells to the underlying basal lamina.