Telocyte

Telocytes are a type of interstitial (stromal) cells with very long (tens to hundreds of micrometres) and very thin prolongations (mostly below the resolving power of light microscopy) called telopodes. [[File:Telocytes-Fig 5.tif|thumb|Figure 5. Human term placenta. The TC (blue) has few organelles in the perinuclear area and 3 emerging Tp (red arrows); black arrowheads mark the dichotomic branching points. Note the podoms and podomeres. Black arrow points the junction between a Tp and a smooth muscle cell (SMC, colored in brown). Reproduced with permission from [2]. [[File:Telocytes - Fig 6.tif|thumb|Figure 6. Non-pregnant myometrium. Digitally colored TC (blue) with 3 Tp that encircle bundles of cross-cut smooth muscle cells (SMC, Sienna brown); N - nuclei. Reproduced with permission from [1]. [[File:Telocytes-Fig 8.tif|thumb|Figure 8. Rat stomach, multicontact stromal synapses between two TC, a plasma cell and an eosinophil, respectively. 3D image computer-aided reconstruction from 9 serial ultrathin sections; original magnification 1,500x. The upper inset shows contact points where the distance between both cell membranes (Tp membrane and plasma-cell membrane) is 15 nm or less (in violet), seen from the plasma cell cytoplasm. In the lower inset Tp were rendered transparent in order to depict the same synapse. Reproduced with permission from [22].

Telocytes are a type of interstitial (stromal) cells with very long (tens to hundreds of micrometres) and very thin prolongations (mostly below the resolving power of light microscopy) called telopodes. [[File:Telocytes-Fig 5.tif|thumb|Figure 5. Human term placenta. The TC (blue) has few organelles in the perinuclear area and 3 emerging Tp (red arrows); black arrowheads mark the dichotomic branching points. Note the podoms and podomeres. Black arrow points the junction between a Tp and a smooth muscle cell (SMC, colored in brown). Reproduced with permission from [2].]] [[File:Telocytes - Fig 6.tif|thumb|Figure 6. Non-pregnant myometrium. Digitally colored TC (blue) with 3 Tp that encircle bundles of cross-cut smooth muscle cells (SMC, Sienna brown); N - nuclei. Reproduced with permission from [1].]] [[File:Telocytes-Fig 8.tif|thumb|Figure 8. Rat stomach, multicontact stromal synapses between two TC, a plasma cell and an eosinophil, respectively. 3D image computer-aided reconstruction from 9 serial ultrathin sections; original magnification 1,500x. The upper inset shows contact points where the distance between both cell membranes (Tp membrane and plasma-cell membrane) is 15 nm or less (in violet), seen from the plasma cell cytoplasm. In the lower inset Tp were rendered transparent in order to depict the same synapse. Reproduced with permission from [22].]] Moniliform aspect: podoms and podomeres; average caliber of podomeres: 0.1 μm ± 0.05 μm, min. = 0.003 μm; max. = 0.24 μm; Podoms accommodate: mitochondria, (rough) endoplasmic reticulum, caveolae, a trio called ‘Ca 2+ -uptake/release units’. Branching, with a dichotomous pattern; Organization in a labyrinthine system, forming a 3D network anchored by hetero- and homocellular junctions. ==See also== List of human cell types derived from the germ layers Interstitial cell of Cajal, a similar, and potentially equivalent, cell

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1377590133 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.