The biological functions of cell-to-cell connection over long distance--membrane nanotube.
- Author:
Jing SHEN
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
;
You-Yi ZHANG
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
;
Han XIAO
1
,
2
,
3
,
5
Author Information
1. Department of Cardiology and Institute of Vascular Medicine, Peking University Third Hospital
2. NHC Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Molecular Biology and Regulatory Peptides
3. Key Laboratory of Molecular Cardiovascular Science, Ministry of Education
4. Beijing Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Receptors Research, Beijing 100191, China.
5. Beijing Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Receptors Research, Beijing 100191, China. xiaohan@bjmu.edu.cn.
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- MeSH:
Cell Communication;
Cell Membrane;
physiology;
Gap Junctions;
physiology;
Humans;
Mitochondria;
physiology;
Nanotubes
- From:
Acta Physiologica Sinica
2019;71(2):196-204
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Cell-to-cell connections provide conduits for signal exchanges, and play important functional roles in physiological and pathological processes of multicellular organisms. Membrane nanotubes are common long-distance connections between cells, not only transfer molecule signals and mitochondria, but also cooperate with gap junction and other cell-to-cell communications to transfer signals. During the last decade, there are many studies about membrane nanotubes, which focus on the similarities and differences between membrane nanotubes and other cell-to-cell communications, as well as their biological functions. In the present review, we summarized the latest findings about the structural diversity, the similarities and differences in signal transmission with other types of cell-to-cell communications, and physiological and pathological roles of membrane nanotubes.
