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Polarised membrane traffic in hepatocytes
Author(s) -
Wilton Joanne C.,
Matthews Glenn M.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.950180310
Subject(s) - transcytosis , hepatocyte , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , apical membrane , membrane transport , membrane , cell , biochemistry , endocytosis , in vitro
The liver was used widely in early studies of polarised transport but has been largely overlooked in recent years, mostly because of the development of epithelial cell lines which provide more tractable experimental systems. The majority of membrane proteins and lipids reach the hepatocyte apical membrane by transcytosis and it remains unclear whether there is a direct route for apical targeting, although the pathways present have yet to be fully characterised. The recent development of systems that allow hepatocyte transport processes to be studied in culture and the observation that transcytosis can be significantly stimulated under physiological conditions suggest that hepatocytes have a role to play in future studies of polarised transport. This review discusses the known features of polarised membrane traffic in hepatocytes and contrasts them with the characteristics of vesicular transport in other epithelial cell types.