Gerdes Hans-Hermann, Bukoreshtliev Nickolay V, Barroso João F V
Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Jonas Lies vei 91, Bergen 5009, Norway.
FEBS Lett. 2007 May 22;581(11):2194-201. doi: 10.1016/j.febslet.2007.03.071. Epub 2007 Apr 4.
Recently, highly sensitive nanotubular structures mediating membrane continuity between mammalian cells have been discovered. With respect to their peculiar architecture, these membrane channels were termed tunneling nanotubes (TNTs). TNTs could form de novo between animal cells leading to the generation of complex cellular networks. They have been shown to facilitate the intercellular transfer of organelles as well as, on a limited scale, of membrane components and cytoplasmic molecules. It has been proposed that TNTs represent a novel and general biological principle of cell-to-cell communication and it becomes increasingly apparent that they fulfill important functions in the physiological processes of multicellular organisms.
最近，人们发现了介导哺乳动物细胞间膜连续性的高灵敏度纳米管结构。鉴于其独特的结构，这些膜通道被称为隧道纳米管（TNTs）。TNTs能够在动物细胞间重新形成，从而导致复杂细胞网络的产生。研究表明，它们有助于细胞器在细胞间的转移，以及在有限范围内促进膜成分和细胞质分子的转移。有人提出，TNTs代表了一种新型的、普遍的细胞间通讯生物学原理，并且越来越明显的是，它们在多细胞生物的生理过程中发挥着重要作用。
