Cell-cell nanotubes Tunneling through several types of synapses

Nanotube can be generally seen as a nanoscale cylindrical structure. Membrane (or tunneling) nanotube (TNT) is a cytoplasmic tunnel between two cells. Such direct cell-cell channel is used for a physical transport of biochemical cargo, whereas nanotubular networks between cells may be a novel princi...

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Published inCommunicative & integrative biology Vol. 2; no. 4; pp. 359 - 361
Main Authors Tarakanov, Alexander O., Goncharova, Larisa B.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Taylor & Francis 01.07.2009
Landes Bioscience
Taylor & Francis Group
Subjects
Binding
Biology
Bioscience
Calcium
Cancer
Cell
Cycle
Landes
Mini Reviews
Organogenesis
Proteins
tunneling nanotube
synapse
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Summary:Nanotube can be generally seen as a nanoscale cylindrical structure. Membrane (or tunneling) nanotube (TNT) is a cytoplasmic tunnel between two cells. Such direct cell-cell channel is used for a physical transport of biochemical cargo, whereas nanotubular networks between cells may be a novel principle of communicative and integrative biology. Recently, TNTs and their networks were discovered in plant cells and then they were reported also in animal cells. Just the reverse, a notion of plant synapse has been also proposed only recently, long after the corresponding notion of neuronal synapse in animals. However, both TNTs and synapses seem to be closely related and evolutionary conserved structures through different types of cells. Accordingly, this mini-review aims to demonstrate that TNTs may represent one of the deep functional similarities between neuronal, immune, viral and plant synapses.
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ISSN:1942-0889
1942-0889
DOI:10.4161/cib.2.4.8289