Membrane shrinkage and cortex remodelling are predicted towork in harmony to retract blebs

Abstract

Numerous cell types undergo an oscillatory form of dynamics known as blebbing, whereby pressure-driven spherical pro-trusions of membrane (known as blebs) expand and contract over the cell’s surface. Depending on the cell line, blebs play important roles in many different phenomena including mitosis and locomotion. The expansion phase of cellular blebbing has been mathematically modelled in detail. However, the active processes occurring during the retraction phase are not so well characterized. It is thought that blebs retract because a cortex reforms inside, and adheres to, the bleb membrane.