An occluding cell-cell junction that is composed of a branching network of sealing strands that completely encircles the apical end of each cell in an epithelial sheet; the outer leaflets of the two interacting plasma membranes are seen to be tightly apposed where sealing strands are present. Each sealing strand is composed of a long row of transmembrane adhesion proteins embedded in each of the two interacting plasma membranes.
zonula occludens