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Concept
Endocytosis
Summary
Endocytosis is a cellular process in which substances are brought into the cell. The material to be internalized is surrounded by an area of cell membrane, which then buds off inside the cell to form a vesicle containing the ingested material. Endocytosis includes pinocytosis (cell drinking) and phagocytosis (cell eating). It is a form of active transport.
The term was proposed by De Duve in 1963. Phagocytosis was discovered by Élie Metchnikoff in 1882.
Endocytosis pathways can be subdivided into four categories: namely, receptor-mediated endocytosis (also known as clathrin-mediated endocytosis), caveolae, pinocytosis, and phagocytosis.
Clathrin-mediated endocytosis is mediated by the production of small (approx. 100 nm in diameter) vesicles that have a morphologically characteristic coat made up of the cytosolic protein clathrin. Clathrin-coated vesicles (CCVs) are found in virtually all cells and form domains of the plasma membrane termed clathrin-coated pits. Coated pits can concentrate large extracellular molecules that have different receptors responsible for the receptor-mediated endocytosis of ligands, e.g. low density lipoprotein, transferrin, growth factors, antibodies and many others.
Study in mammalian cells confirm a reduction in clathrin coat size in an increased tension environment. In addition, it suggests that the two apparently distinct clathrin assembly modes, namely coated pits and coated plaques, observed in experimental investigations might be a consequence of varied tensions in the plasma membrane.
Caveolae are the most commonly reported non-clathrin-coated plasma membrane buds, which exist on the surface of many, but not all cell types. They consist of the cholesterol-binding protein caveolin (Vip21) with a bilayer enriched in cholesterol and glycolipids. Caveolae are small (approx. 50 nm in diameter) flask-shape pits in the membrane that resemble the shape of a cave (hence the name caveolae).
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