We have completed maintenance on DiscoverMagazine.com and action may be required on your account. Learn More

76. Immune Cells Show Off Their Deadly Grip

By Rabiya S Tuma
Jan 14, 2008 6:00 AMNov 12, 2019 6:00 AM

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news
 

Macrophages are big, fuzzy-looking immune cells that move through the blood and tissues, engulfing and destroying any foreign invaders, such as bacteria and dead or damaged cells, they encounter. In July, Holger Kress and colleagues from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, reported that macrophages don’t just wait to bump into their victims. At the cell surface, they form thin protrusions, called filopodia, that wave around like fishing lines. If a filopodium bumps into an invader, the “line” retracts quickly, helping the cell swallow up the object.

Initially, Kress wasn’t looking at the filopodia at all. He was using microscopic beads to watch what happened when a macrophage encountered a foreign object. But he was focusing on the smooth regions of the membranes, where the analysis of that encounter would be straightforward. Then one of his beads bumped into a filopodium and—wham!—the protrusion retracted, taking the bead with it. With that, he saw the process in a whole new light.

Kress, now a postdoctoral researcher at Yale, thinks the cell uses filopodia to increase the size of the area it can explore in a given time. “The cells are likely able to capture more bacteria per period of time than if the membrane were completely flat,” he says.

Go to the next article: 77. The Biggest Squid Ever Captured

1 free article left
Want More? Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/month

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

1 free articleSubscribe
Discover Magazine Logo
Want more?

Keep reading for as low as $1.99!

Subscribe

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

More From Discover
Recommendations From Our Store
Shop Now
Stay Curious
Join
Our List

Sign up for our weekly science updates.

 
Subscribe
To The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Copyright © 2024 Kalmbach Media Co.