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Updated: May 23, 2026

Peroxisome Staining in Mammalian Cells Using Peroxisome-Specific Probes
Published on: December 19, 2025
Peroxisome morphology in pathology
D Ribeiro1, I Castro, H D Fahimi
1Centre for Cell Biology and Deptartment of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.
Abstract:
Peroxisomes are remarkably dynamic and versatile organelles that are essential for human health and development. They respond to physiological changes in the cellular environment by adapting their morphology, number, enzyme content and metabolic functions accordingly. With the discovery of the first key peroxisomal morphology proteins, the investigation of peroxisomal shape, distribution and dynamics has become an exciting new field in cell biology and biomedical sciences because of its relation to organelle functionality and its impact on developmental and physiological processes. In this review, we summarize recent findings on peroxisome biology, dynamics and the modulation of peroxisome morphology, especially in mammals. Furthermore, we discuss the roles of peroxisome dynamics and morphology in cell pathology and present recent examples for alterations in peroxisome morphology under disease conditions. Besides defects in the peroxisomal morphology machinery, we also address peroxisome biogenesis disorders, alterations of peroxisome number during carcinogenesis and liver cirrhosis, and morphological alterations of peroxisomes during viral infection.
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