Cell-to-cell Transport
Cell-to-cell Transport - Related Videos
07:14
A Cell-to-cell Macromolecular Transport Assay in Planta Utilizing Biolistic Bombardment
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Cited by 3 •
2010
Macromolecular trafficking between plant cells can be assessed by transiently expressing a fluorescently-tagged protein of interest and analyzing its intra- and intercellular distribution by confocal microscopy.
07:32
Freezing, Thawing, and Packaging Cells for Transport
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Cited by 2 •
2008
Cultured mammalian cells are used extensively in cell biology studies. This video describes the basic skills required to freeze and store cells and how to recover frozen stocks.
08:02
Live-cell Imaging of Endocytic Transport using Functionalized Nanobodies in Cultured Cells
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Cited by 1 •
2025
Endocytic and retrograde transport of proteins from the plasma membrane to the trans-Golgi network is essential to maintaining membrane homeostasis and regulating signaling. Here, we describe a method to image and quantify endocytic transport of transmembrane cargo proteins by live-cell microscopy using derivatized anti-GFP nanobodies in HeLa cells.
10:08
Organelle Transport in Cultured Drosophila Cells: S2 Cell Line and Primary Neurons.
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Cited by 22 •
2013
Drosophila S2 cells and cultured neurons are great systems for imaging of motor-driven organelle transport in vivo. Here we describe detailed protocols for culturing both cell types, their imaging and analysis of transport.
08:53
Assay to Measure Nucleocytoplasmic Transport in Real Time within Motor Neuron-like NSC-34 Cells
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Cited by 6 •
2017
This protocol describes a method to sensitively measure the nucleocytoplasmic transport rate within motor neuron-like NSC-34 cells by quantifying the real-time change in the nuclear import of a NLS-NES-GFP protein.
FAQs
Gap junctions create direct connections between neighboring cell cytoplasms, allowing certain molecules and ions to pass without entering the surrounding body fluids. This arrangement supports coordinated activity across adjacent cells and helps tissues synchronize their functions. Their local, cell-to-cell organization distinguishes them from transport pathways that release cargo outside the cell before it reaches a recipient.
Vesicle fusion releases stored cargo when a vesicle merges with the sender cell’s membrane, providing a direct release mechanism. Extracellular vesicles, by contrast, carry cargo away from the originating cell through body fluids before reaching recipient cells. The distinction is important because one mechanism emphasizes membrane fusion and release, whereas the other supports transport between more separated cells.
Transported cargo can include molecules, ions, vesicles, or genetic material, and each category can contribute differently to communication between cells. Cargo movement may influence signaling, nutrient exchange, immune responses, or tissue development. Examining both the cargo and its transport route therefore helps explain how cells coordinate specialized activities within healthy tissues.
Pathways involving extracellular vesicles allow cellular cargo to move through body fluids rather than remaining limited to directly adjacent cells. This broader reach can connect cells at a distance and distribute biological information across tissues. In biology research, that feature makes these pathways relevant to communication networks that cannot be explained solely by direct cytoplasmic connections.
Investigating these pathways can reveal how tissues coordinate functions and how communication changes during disease. Researchers can examine transport mechanisms, cargo movement, and resulting effects on signaling, nutrient exchange, immune responses, or development. Such information may also support the identification of biomarkers, which are measurable indicators associated with biological states or disease processes.
Disease can alter the normal movement of signals and cargo between cells, making transport pathways useful for studying infection, cancer, and neurological disease. Comparing healthy and altered transport may reveal changes in tissue communication and disease-associated processes. These findings can contribute to research on biomarkers, drug delivery, and targeted therapies while linking cellular mechanisms to broader biological outcomes.