Activation of mast cells by aggregation of the high-affinity IgE receptors (FcεRI) initiates signaling events leading to the release of inflammatory and allergic mediators stored in cytoplasmic granules. A key role in this process play changes in concentrations of intracellular Ca(2+) controlled by store-operated Ca(2+) entry (SOCE). Although microtubules are also involved in the process leadin...

Rat leukemia cells IRC 741 in suspension culture form single cytoplasmic protrusions by which the cells preferentially adhere to one another. The induction and/or maintenance of these protrusions is sensitive to changes in intercellular contact, pH, temperature, and nutritional conditions. The protrusions are stable, rigid structures which take part in intercellular adhesion but not in adhesion...

We consider a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) such that tunneling occurs through two atomically sharp protrusions on its tip. When the two protrusions are separated by at least several atomic spacings, the differential conductance of this STM depends on the electronic transport in the sample between the protrusions. Such two-protrusion tips commonly occur during STM tip preparation. We expl...

Protrusions and retrusions typically form on recrystallizing boundaries and thus the boundaries often appear rough. Characterization of the boundary roughness is necessary in order to evaluate the effects of protrusions and retrusions on boundary migration. In the current work, a variable termed area integral invariant is employed to provide quantitative information of individual protrusions/re...

Clostridium difficile toxin (CDT) is a binary actin-ADP-ribosylating toxin that causes depolymerization of the actin cytoskeleton and formation of microtubule-based membrane protrusions, which are suggested to be involved in enhanced bacterial adhesion and colonization of hypervirulent C. difficile strains. Here, we studied the involvement of membrane lipid components of human colon adenocarcin...

We report a novel function of RUVBL1 molecule in pancreatic cancer cells. Previous reports describe that RUVBL1 belongs to the family of AAA+ ATPases that associate with chromatin-remodelling complexes and have important roles in transcriptional regulation, the DNA damage response, telomerase activity and cellular transformation. We show that knockdown of RUVBL1 inhibited the motility and invas...

Long-range intercellular communication is essential for the regulation of embryonic development. Apart from simple diffusion, various modes of signal transfer have been described in the literature. Here, we describe a novel type of cellular extensions found in epithelial cells of the somites in chicken embryos. These filopodia-like protrusions span the subectodermal space overlying the dorsal s...