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Updated: May 20, 2026

Development of an Insert Co-culture System of Two Cellular Types in the Absence of Cell-Cell Contact
Published on: July 17, 2016
TNF-α influences the lateral dynamics of TNF receptor I in living cells
Meike Heidbreder1, Christin Zander, Sebastian Malkusch
1Julius-Maximilians-Universität, Department of Biotechnology & Biophysics, Würzburg, Germany.
Abstract:
In mammalian cells, inflammation is mainly mediated by the binding of tumor necrosis factor alpha to tumor necrosis factor receptor 1. In this study, we investigated lateral dynamics of TNF-R1 before and after ligand binding using high-density single-particle tracking in combination with photoactivated localization microscopy. Our single-molecule data indicates the presence of tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 with different mobilities in the plasma membrane, suggesting different molecular organizations. Cholesterol depletion led to a decrease of slow receptor species and a strong increase in the average diffusion coefficient. Moreover, as a consequence of tumor necrosis factor-alpha treatment, the mean diffusion coefficient moderately increased while its distribution narrowed. Based on our observation, we propose a refined mechanism on the structural arrangement and activation of tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 in the plasma membrane.
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