Coated pits and pinocytosis in Tetrahymena

The possible role in pinocytosis of coated pits at the parasomal sacs of Tetrahymena has been studied using cationized ferritin (CF; pI = 8.5) as a marker of membrane and content. It is shown that CF binds evenly to the surface, including the coated pits, of Tetrahymena in an inorganic salt medium (to avoid formation of food vacuoles) at the normal growth temperature. Moreover, CF is internalized by coated vesicles (shown to be truly free by thin serial-section analysis) and delivered initially (1-5 min of incubation) to cisterna near the cell surface. Later (5-10 min) CF occurs also in autophagic vacuoles, formed as a result of starvation, and eventually (15-90 min) it is present in preformed (old) food vacuoles. These observations indicate that the coated pits at the parasomal sacs of Tetrahymena function in adsorptive pinocytosis in much the same manner as coated pits at the surface of mammalian cells.