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Related Concept Videos

Pinocytosis00:38

Pinocytosis

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Cells use energy-requiring bulk transport mechanisms to transfer large particles or large numbers of small particles into or out of the cell. The cells envelop the particles in spherical membranes called vesicles or vacuoles. Vesicles that transport material into the cell are built from the cell membrane. These vesicles encapsulate external molecules and transport them into the cell in a process called endocytosis.
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Cells pull particles inward and engulf them in spherical vesicles in an energy-requiring process called endocytosis. Phagocytosis ("cellular eating") is one of three major types of endocytosis. Cells use phagocytosis to take in large objects, such as other cells (or their debris), bacteria, and even viruses.
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Endocytosis01:16

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Eukaryotic cells acquire nutrients for growth and proliferation. Nutrients and other molecules that require degradation are internalized from the extracellular space by a process called endocytosis. The term ‘endocytosis' was first coined by Christian de Duve in 1963.
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Eukaryotic cells use different mechanisms to eliminate toxic waste obsolete and worn-out substances. Lysosomes play a pivotal role in this, and hence, these substances are carried to the lysosome from other parts of the cell and extracellular space through different pathways. The most elaborately studied pathways to the lysosome are the endocytic pathways.
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Vesicle budding is orchestrated by distinct cytosolic proteins such as adaptor proteins, coat proteins, and GTPases. To initiate vesicle budding, membrane-bending proteins containing crescent-shaped BAR domains bind to the lipid heads in the bilayer and distort the membrane to form a protein-coated vesicle bud. Adaptors proteins such as AP2 for clathrin-coated vesicles can nucleate on the deformed membrane. Finally, coat proteins such as clathrin or COPI and COPII assemble into a coat forming...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 19, 2025

Measuring the pH, Redox Chemistries, and Degradative Capacity of Macropinosomes using Dual-Fluorophore Ratiometric Microscopy
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Measuring the pH, Redox Chemistries, and Degradative Capacity of Macropinosomes using Dual-Fluorophore Ratiometric Microscopy

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Macropinocytosis: Blowing bubbles.

Joel A Swanson1

  • 1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5620, USA.

Current Biology : CB
|August 8, 2023
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Cellular macropinocytosis, a process of engulfing extracellular fluid, involves membrane tension driving cup closure, not actin filament constriction. This finding offers new insights into endocytosis mechanisms.

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Area of Science:

  • Cell Biology
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • Macropinocytosis is a critical cellular process for internalizing large volumes of extracellular fluid.
  • It involves the formation of dynamic membrane structures called macropinosomes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the mechanism of macropinosome closure.
  • To determine the role of actin filaments and membrane tension in this process.

Main Methods:

  • Live-cell imaging techniques were employed to observe macropinosome formation and closure.
  • Quantitative analysis of membrane dynamics and actin polymerization was performed.

Main Results:

  • Macropinosome closure was observed to occur independently of localized actin filament constriction.
  • Increased membrane tension was correlated with efficient macropinosome sealing.

Conclusions:

  • Membrane tension, rather than actin constriction, is the primary driver of macropinosome closure.
  • This discovery refines our understanding of the biophysical mechanisms governing endocytosis.