What is pinocytosis and example?

Pinocytosis is An example of endocytosis, a cellular process in which substances are brought inside a cell. Other types of endocytosis include phagocytosis and receptor-mediated endocytosis. All three are about taking in of substance into the cell.

Pinocytosis is used primarily for clearing extracellular fluids (ECF) and as part of immune surveillance. In contrast to phagocytosis, it generates very small amounts of ATP from the wastes of alternative substances such as lipids (fat).

The process of pinocytosis begins with initiation. The molecules bind to the receptor on the cell membrane sending signals to the cell membrane for the further process. The cell membrane then creates small open-ended pockets or folds around the extracellular fluid to be absorbed.

Once inside the cell, the protein is digested into its constituent amino acids, which are reabsorbed through the basolateral membrane into the interstitial fluid. Because pinocytosis requires energy, It is considered a form of active transport.

The four types of pinocytosis based on mechanism of action include:

• Macropinocytsis.
• Clathrin-mediated pinocytosis.
• Clathrin-independent pinocytosis.
• Caveolae-mediated pinocytosis.

Fluids and nutrients Are ingested by cells in pinocytosis. The presence of certain molecules in a cell’s extracellular fluid precipitates the pinocytosis process. Ions, sugar molecules and proteins are some common examples.

Pinocytosis. Pinocytosis (“cell drinking”) is almost the same process as phagocytosis, except it involves liquids instead of solids. During exocytosis a vacuole containing material to be excreated from the cell moves to the plasma membrane and fuses with it.

Endocytosis definition and purposes. Endocytosis is The process by which cells take in substances from outside of the cell by engulfing them in a vesicle. These can include things like nutrients to support the cell or pathogens that immune cells engulf and destroy.

Pinocytosis was discovered and named by Warren Lewis, whose time-lapse movies of macrophages and cultured rat sarcoma cells revealed actively moving cell surface protrusions which folded back to enclose extracellular fluids into intracellular vesicles (Lewis, 1931; Lewis, 1937; Video 1).

Phagocytosis, process by which certain living cells called phagocytes ingest or engulf other cells or particles. The phagocyte may be a free-living one-celled organism, such as an amoeba, or one of the body cells, such as a white blood cell.

Endocytosis vs exocytosis: a comparison

Several types of cells of the immune system perform phagocytosis, such as Neutrophils, macrophages, dendritic cells, and B lymphocytes.