Striated band spanning the base of a longitudinal ridge (kinetodesmal fibers are seen in the ridge in cross section). The epiplasm appears absent from the top of the ridge or is replaced by two thicke...

The pellicular pore consists of the invaginated plasma membrane that penetrates the alveolus as well as the epiplasm and ends as a clathrin-coated pit. TEM taken on 3/14/72 by R. Allen with Hitachi HU...

Freeze fracture of the plasma membrane and outer alveolar membrane of the pellicle of V. microstoma. The surface of Vorticella is encircled by rings which follow the septa of underlying alveoli. In th...

A cross-section and tangential views of three other linkage complexes. The mid piece sits in an indentation of the ER membrane on a bed of 5 slats that pass through the membrane. Rails affix the ER me...

Cross sections of striated bands and infraciliary lattice arms. Filaments of the striated bands are less densely packed than the infraciliary lattice. Kinetodesmal fibers and postciliary microtubules ...

A cross-section and tangential views of three other linkage complexes. The mid piece sits in an indentation of the ER membrane on a bed of 5 slats that pass through the membrane. Rails affix the ER me...

Receptor mediated endocytosis is a process in which extracellular molecules are taken into the cell via coated vesicles that pinch from the plasma membrane. In Paramecium the resulting vesicles fuse w...

A view of cross sections of the finger-like extensions of the alveoli that bind to the cytostomal cord. Alveoli store calcium (see Stelly et al., J. Cell Biol. 113:103-112, 1991) and calcium release c...

This freeze fracture view of the pellicle of V. microstoma near the aboral end of the zooid shows the region where the width of each circumferential alveolus is narrower and thus the strings of fractu...

Like other peritrichs the pellicle of Vorticella convallaria is sculpted into ridges and grooves that circle the cell perpendicular to the aboral/adoral axis of the cell body. Pellicular pores penetra...