ArticleFrontiers in physiology2012
Multifaceted roles of tunneling nanotubes in intercellular communication.
Article in Frontiers in physiology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 93 papers.
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Who cites it
93 citing papers in PubMed, 162 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Tunneling Nanotubes in Astrocyte-Neuron Crosstalk: From Intercellular Communication and Pathological Spread to Mechanobiological and Bio-Inspired Approaches.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- The Mitochondrial-Astrocyte-Neuron Triad Hypothesis in Parkinson's Disease: A Toxic Feedback Loop of Metabolism, Aggregation, and Oxidative Stress.Neurochemical research · 2025Review
- Tumor Cell Communications as Promising Supramolecular Targets for Cancer Chemotherapy: A Possible Strategy.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- The diversity of clinicalJournal of medical microbiology · 2024Article
- Review
- Article
- Tunneling Nanotubes in the Brain.Results and problems in cell differentiation · 2024Review
- The direct transfer approach for transcellular drug delivery.Drug delivery · 2023Review
- Review
- Tunnelling nanotubes between neuronal and microglial cells allow bi-directional transfer of α-Synuclein and mitochondria.Cell death & disease · 2023Article
- Inter-Alpha Inhibitor Proteins Modify the Microvasculature after Exposure to Hypoxia-Ischemia and Hypoxia in Neonatal Rats.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Protective effect of the tunneling nanotube-TNFAIP2/M-sec system on podocyte autophagy in diabetic nephropathy.Autophagy · 2023Article
- Hijacking intercellular trafficking for the spread of protein aggregates in neurodegenerative diseases: a focus on tunneling nanotubes (TNTs).Extracellular vesicles and circulating nucleic acids · 2023Review
- Article
- Article
- Revealing the structure and organization of intercellular tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) by STORM imaging.Nanoscale advances · 2022Article
- Mechanisms of podocyte injury and implications for diabetic nephropathy.Clinical science (London, England : 1979) · 2022Article
- The role of cell geometry and cell-cell communication in gradient sensing.PLoS computational biology · 2022Article
- Electrical Propagation of Condensed and Diffuse Ions Along Actin Filaments.Journal of computational neuroscience · 2022Article
33 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Cell-to-cell communication and exchange of materials are vital processes in multicellular organisms during cell development, cell repair, and cell survival. In neuronal and immunological cells, intercellular transmission between neighboring cells occurs via different complex junctions or synapses. Recently, long distance intercellular connections in mammalian cells called tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) have been described. These structures have been found in numerous cell types and shown to transfer signals and cytosolic materials between distant cells, suggesting that they might play a prominent role in intercellular trafficking. However, these cellular connections are very heterogeneous in both structure and function, giving rise to more questions than answers as to their nature and role as intercellular conduits. To better understand and characterize the functions of TNTs, we have highlighted here the latest discoveries regarding the formation, structure, and role of TNTs in cell-to-cell spreading of various signals and materials. We first gathered information regarding their formation with an emphasis on the triggering mechanisms observed, such as stress and potentially important proteins and/or signaling pathways. We then describe the various types of transfer mechanisms, in relation to signals and cargoes that have been shown recently to take advantage of these structures for intercellular transfer. Because a number of pathogens were shown to use these membrane bridges to spread between cells we also draw attention to specific studies that point toward a role for TNTs in pathogen spreading. In particular we discuss the possible role that TNTs might play in prion spreading, and speculate on their role in neurological diseases in general.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.