Monitoring Plasma Membrane Injury-Triggered Endocytosis at Single-Cell and Single-Vesicle Resolution

Abstract

Plasma membrane injury activates membrane trafficking and remodeling events that are required for the injured membrane to repair. With the rapidity of the membrane repair process, the repair response needs to be monitored at high temporal and spatial resolution. In this chapter, we describe the use of live cell optical imaging approaches to monitor injury-triggered bulk and individual vesicle endocytosis. Use of these approaches allows quantitatively assessment of the rate of retrieval of the injured plasma membrane by bulk endocytosis as well as by endocytosis of individual caveolae following plasma membrane injury.

Keywords: Caveolae; Confocal; Live cell imaging; Membrane repair; Muscle; Muscular dystrophy.