ABSTRACT
Electron microscope images of THP-1 cells and human monocytes show that their plasma membranes tend to be highly ruffled, with thin membrane protrusions imparting a large surface area. In any case, it is intriguing that one component of a phagocytic cell enzyme that attacks lipopolysaccharide (LPS) has structural similarity to cofactors for enzymes that hydrolyze sphingolipids, the eukaryotic counterpart of bacterial lipopolysaccharides. As the interactions between LPS and its receptors on eukaryotic cells have become more completely understood, scientific attention has turned to the mechanisms by which LPS moves to the cell interior and travels intracellularly. An important consideration in all studies of LPS-cell interactions is the possibility that the fate of the LPS followed by one or more techniques may be different from that of a much smaller population of LPS molecules that has important or a different biological consequences.
