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Electron Tomography of Vesicles
Author(s) -
MICHEL C. CHARLES
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
microcirculation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.793
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1549-8719
pISSN - 1073-9688
DOI - 10.1111/j.1549-8719.2012.00191.x
Subject(s) - vesicle , caveolae , electron tomography , biophysics , chemistry , cytoplasm , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , nanotechnology , biochemistry , membrane , materials science , transmission electron microscopy , scanning transmission electron microscopy
Please cite this paper as : Michel CC. Electron tomography of vesicles. Microcirculation 19 : 473–476, 2012. Abstract In this issue of Microcirculation , Wagner, Modla, Hossler and Czmmek [25] describe the use of electron tomography to visualize the three‐dimensional arrangement of small endothelial vesicles and caveolae of muscle capillaries. Their images show the well‐known clusters of fused vesicles communicating with caveolae at the luminal and abluminal surfaces. The advantages of electron tomography are shown by well resolved images of single cytoplasmic vesicles separate from fused vesicle clusters and also by occasional chains of fused vesicles forming trans‐endothelial channels. Twenty five to thirty years ago the existence of both trans‐endothelial channels and single unattached vesicles was disputed. Also, since some single vesicles and all of the trans‐endothelial channels are labeled with a lanthanide tracer present in the perfusate at the time of fixation, this evidence once again raises the question of whether vesicles have a role in vascular permeability to macromolecules. This brief review describes the origin of the vesicle controversy, some of the more recent evidence for and against the participation of vesicles in macromolecular transport and considers some criticisms of ultra‐structural evidence for vesicular transport that still require answers.