Phagosome crystal structures

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Cells can ingest foreign particles by a process known as phagocytosis. If large numbers of small particles are introduced in this way, they arrange into crystallites.

[edit] Cell-assisted assembly of colloidal crystallite

Spatial confinement drives crystallization of colloidal microspheres inside fibroblast cells. Beyond the curiosity of the phenomenon itself, cell-assisted colloidal assembly is a useful tool to study a variety of biophysical processes.

Phagosome crystal structure.

The cell membrane visibly extends beyond the area filled with particles. Cell-assisted crystallite assembly occurs for polysterene (?) microspheres ranging from 750 nm to 6 µm in diameter.

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