Group 5

Members:
Maryann Andrew
Joanne Beejaimal
Jessica Bruzon-Surrey
Allincia Michaud
Stephan Muridall
Herawattie Persaud
Swarastie Persaud
Joshua Ramah
Drohinath Singh
Aartie Somwaru
Jomane Thompson
Endocytosis,
Exocytosis and
Amoeboid
Movement
Introduction
• Cytosis is a special kind of transport mechanism which involves the
movement of water and other molecules into (endocytosis) and out of
(exocytosis) a cell.
• During this movement all molecules must pass through the cell’s
plasma membrane.
•  
• By far the most important type of movement that occurs in the body is
that of the muscle cells, however there are other types of movements
that play important roles in the human organism e.g amoeboid
movement, which is the movement of an entire cell in
• relation to its surroundings. It receives its name from amebae and the
fact that they move in this manner.

• This presentation seeks to study the characteristics of these processes

in recognition of their importance in the body.
The Plasma Membrane
• Cell membrane described as a lipid bilayer.
• Double layer of lipid one molecule thick.
• Basic bilayer composed of phospholipids molecules.
• Phosphate end hydrophilic and fatty acid end hydrophobic.
• The hydrophobic portion of the phospholipids has a tendency
to attach to one another in the middle of the membrane, since
these molecules repel water, while the hydrophilic portion
constitutes the inner and outer surfaces of the cell membrane.
The Plasma Membrane
• The layer in the middle of the membrane is impermeable to
water soluble substance such as glucose and urea. This portion
can however be penetrated by oxygen, carbon dioxide and
alcohol (fat soluble substances).
The Cell Membrane
• The cell membrane is composed of:
• 1. Proteins 55%
• 2. Phospholipids 25 %
• 3. Cholesterol 13%
• 4. Other Lipids 4%
• 5 Carbohydrates 3%
Types of plasma proteins
1. Integral Proteins
Penetrates throughout the entire membrane. Provides channel
for water soluble substances. Take part in active transport
(carry molecule in opposite direction to natural transport). Acts
as receptors, enzymes.
2. Peripheral Proteins
Attaches to surface of plasma membrane. Functions entirely as
enzymes/controller of transport through cells in membrane
pores.
Carbohydrates
Glycocalyx-loose carbohydrate coat outside cell membrane.
Function
1. Has negative electrical charge, giving cell an overall
negative charge.
2. Cell adhesion.
3. Receptor for binding hormone such as insulin
Cholesterol
• Cholesterol, a form of lipids that are dissolved in the bilayer of
the membrane and determines the permeability and fluidity of
the membrane as well.
ENDOCYTOSIS
Definition
• Endocytosis is the process by which extracellular substances
are imported into the cell via transport vesicles because it
cannot cross the hydrophobic plasma membrane. This process
requires a lot of energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate
(ATP), the chemical compound used as energy in the majority
of cells.
• There are two main forms of endocytosis, namely
phagocytosis and pinocytosis.
Difference between the two types of
endocytosis.
• The basic difference between these two processes can be easily
distinguished from their names.
• Pinocytosis (cell drinking) involves movement of small
particles into the cell from the extracellular fluid (ECF)
whereas
• Phagocytosis (cell eating) involves the movement of large
particles into the cell from the ECF.
General Process
• Both phagocytosis and pinocytosis take place by the same
basic mechanism which occurs as follows:
1. On the cell membrane there are receptors found in coated pits
for the substance which is to be imported into the cell.
2. Beneath the pits, on the inside of the membrane are fibrillar
proteins called clathrin. When the receptors bind to the
particle, a series of other processes are activated.
3. First there is an invagination of the pit, with the fibrillar
proteins working to wrap the edges of the pit around the
product, enclosing it along with some ECF.
4. Once completely invaginated, contractile proteins, actin
and myosin, cause the vesicle to be “pinched” off the
cell membrane, forming either a pinocytic or phagocytic
vesicle. Energy in the form of ATP is required.
5. The receptors are now removed from the vesicle to be
sent back to the surface to be recycled. The new vesicle
now contains no receptors.
6. The new vesicle then fuses with a lysosome and forms a
secondary lysosome. The enzymes of the lysosome then
hydrolyse the particles which are subsequently released
into the cytoplasm of the cell.
Phagocytosis
• Phagocytosis is the process by which certain living cells
termed “phagocytes” ingest or engulf other cells or
particles.
• The phagocyte may be a free-living one-celled organism,
such as an amoeba, or one of the body cells, such as a
leukocyte (white blood cell).
• In some organisms, such as amoebas and sponges,
phagocytosis is a means of feeding; in higher organisms
phagocytosis is chiefly a defensive reaction against
infection and invasion of the body by foreign substances.
• Phagocytes include neutrophils, monocytes,
macrophages, dendritic cells, mast cells, fibroblasts, and
erythrocytes.
• Phagocytosis mainly occurs in tissue macrophages and
neutrophils.
• The particles commonly phagocytosed by leukocytes
include bacteria, dead tissue cells, protozoa, various dust
particles, pigments, and other minute foreign bodies.
• It is initiated when these foreign bodies bind with the
surface receptors in the coated pits.
Phagocytosis and the immune response

• The process of phagocytosis is an immune response.

• Macrophages are termed antigen presenting cells, as they take
antigen to T cells to be killed.
• Lymphokines are involved in the immune response, which are
produced by lymphocytes and play a role in attracting other
immune cells to an affected area.
Phagocytosis in the lungs
• Macrophages found in the lungs can phagocytose particles
trapped in the alveoli.
• If the particle is digestible, the digestive products are released
into the lymph.
• Otherwise, the macrophage will form a capsule around the
particle resulting in its degradation.
Application of Pinocytosis
• In the proximal tubule, the reabsorption of large molecules
such as proteins occurs.

In this process:
• The protein attaches to the brush border of the luminal
membrane.
• This portion of the membrane then invaginates until it is
completely pinched off and a vesicle is formed containing the
protein.
• Once inside the cell, the protein is digested into its constituent
amino acids, which are reabsorbed through the basolateral
membrane into the interstitial fluid.

NOTE: This requires energy, it is considered a form of active

transport.
Exocytosis
VESICULAR TRANSPORT:
EXOCYTOSIS
• This is a process through which a cell expels molecules and
other objects that are too large to pass through the cell
membrane structure. It describes the process of vesicles fusing
with the plasma membrane and releasing their contents to the
outside of the cell.
• Simply put it is all the mechanisms involved that facilitate
movement from the cytoplasm to the interstitial fluid. Contents
of these vesicles may be excretory products, hormones,
neurotransmitters etc
 Types of Exocytosis
Constitutive Secretion
In constitutive secretion the protein is sorted into vesicles in the Golgi
apparatus and moves directly to the cell surface membrane. This results in the
release of soluble proteins to the exterior.

Regulated Secretion
Regulated secretion requires an external signal,
a specific sorting signal coat as well as
intracellular calcium.
 Stages of Exocytosis

Exocytosis occurs in five stages:

1. Vesicle trafficking – vesicle containing excretory products is
transported through the cytoplasm towards the cell membrane
i.e. towards point of deposition
2.Vesicle tethering – vesicle is suspended and pulled toward point
of expulsion
3. Vesicle docking – vesicle comes into contact with the cell
membrane, where it begins to chemically and physically merge
with the cell membrane proteins.
4. Vesicle priming – In those cells where chemical transmitters are
being released, this step involves the chemical preparations for
the last step of exocytosis.
• 5. Vesicle fusion - Proteins from the walls of the vesicle
merge with the cell membrane and breach, pushing the
vesicle contents out of the cell and into the interstitial
fluid.
Diagram showing process of exocytosis
Physiology
Many cellular processes involve exocytosis. Examples of these
processes within the human body are:

• Hypothalamic hormone release

• Secretion of proteins like enzymes, peptide hormones and
antibodies from cells.
• Release of neurotransmitters from presynaptic neurons e.g.
acetylcholine release
• Acrosome reaction during fertilization
• Recycling of plasma membrane bound receptors
• Insulin release from pancreatic cells
Acetylcholine release

• Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter necessary for muscular

functions.
• It is secreted in cytoplasm of terminal boutons then absorbed
into synaptic vesicles.
• Dense bars present on neural membrane have protein particles
which act as voltage-gated calcium channels.
• These channels open when there is an action potential and
allow Ca2+ to diffuse from synaptic space into the bouton
• Ca2+ attracts the vesicles drawing them to the membrane with
which they fuse and are then exocytosed.
Diagram showing release of acetylcholine at a neuromuscular
junction.
Regulatory Factors
Factors that play a regulatory role in exocytosis include:
• Nitric oxide
• Calcium concentration
• Glucose concentration [in the case of insulin secretion]
Amoeboid Movement
Cellular Movement
• Cellular movement is a cyclical process which is driven
primarily by actin polymerization and acto-myosin
contractility.

• Cells in the body exhibit three main types of movements:

 amoeboid
 ciliary
 muscular.
Ciliary Movement

• Ciliary Movement: occurs in most of our internal tubular

organs which are lined by ciliated epithelium.

For example:
• The coordinated movements of cilia in the trachea help us in
removing dust particles and some of the foreign substances
inhaled along with the atmospheric air.
• Passage of ova through the female reproductive tract is also
facilitated by the ciliary movement.
• Muscular Movement:
Movement of our limbs, jaws,
tongue, etc, require muscular
movement. The contractile
property of muscles are effectively
used for locomotion and other
movements by human beings and
majority of multicellular organisms
• Amoeboid movement is brought about by
reversible changes in the actin filaments of the cell's
cytoskeleton.
• Cross-linking of these filaments by other proteins
creates a three-dimensional network with gel-like
properties of the cell.

Key steps in amoeboid locomotion are:

• protrusion of the leading edge of the cell,
• adhesion of the leading edge and release at the cell
body and rear
• cytoskeletal contraction to pull the cell forward.
• As a cell moves towards a substrate, it experiences
external forces, which include the viscous force or
resistance from the surrounding medium and
cell-substrate interaction forces, and internal forces
that are generated by the cytoskeleton.

• The cytoskeleton is the essential component in

creating these motility-driving forces, and in
coordinating the entire process of movement.

• The cell propels the membrane forward by orienting

and reorganizing (growing) the actin network at its
leading edge.

• As the leading edge begins to protrude, adhesion

molecules gathered in the extending region help
attach the leading edge to the substrate.
• Cell-substrate attachments are created at the
leading edge when actin bundles link the
cytoskeleton to the substrate at certain sites via
adhesion molecules

• As the cell continues to adhere at the leading edge,

it releases from the cell body and rear of the cell,
possibly by the disassembly or contraction of its
attachments (actin bundles).

• At the rear the receptors are pulled away from their

ligands. This leads to the formation of new endocytotic
vesicles.

• Within the cell, these vesicles stream toward the

pseudopodial end of the cell, where they are used to
form still new membrane for the pseudopodium.
• The rest of the cell is pulled forward, mainly by
contractile forces that are produced by myosin
motors sliding on actin filaments, which are in the
cell body and at the rear.
Cell that exhibit amoeboid movement
• White Blood Cells exhibit ameboid movement when they
move out of blood into tissues as tissue macrophages.
• Fibroblasts utilize ameboid movement to repair damaged
tissues.
• Embryonic cells also use ameboid locomotion to migrate from
their sites of origin to other areas.
• Germinal cells of the skin move towards a cut area by this
type of locomotion.
Control of Amoeboid Movement
• Chemotaxis is the most essential initiator of Ameboid movement.

• Most of the cells that exhibit ameboid locomotion move toward

the source of a chemotactic substance; that is, from an area
of lower concentration toward an area of higher concentration;
which is called positive chemotaxis. On the other hand, some

cells move away from the source, which is called negative

chemotaxis.
• The side of the cell most exposed to the chemotactic substance
develops changes in the membrane that causes protrusion of the
pseudopodium.
References
• Ananthakrishnan R, Ehrlicher A. The Forces Behind Cell Movement. Int J
Biol Sci 2007; 3:303-317. Available from
http://www.biolsci.org/v03p0303.htm
• Guyton Textbook of Medical Physiology; 11th Edition
• www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/454919/phagocytosis
• http://www.bookrags.com/research/nutrition-and-nutrient-transport-to-wap/
• http://www.answers.com/topic/pinocytosis
• www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Phagocytosis

• http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Pinocytosis
• http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=14505