I have read some publications and it seems like dextran-conjugated fluorescent dye is a perfect and specific macropinocytosis marker. And based on this article (Li, L., Wan, T., Wan, M., Liu, B., Cheng, R. and Zhang, R. (2015), The effect of the size of fluorescent dextran on its endocytic pathway. Cell Biol Int, 39: 531-539. doi:10.1002/cbin.10424), the authors claim that Dextran 10 kDa is more suitable for general endocytosis, whereas Dextran 70 kDa is more suitable for macropinocytosis. However, some other publications indicated that they used Dextran 10 kDa, and they claim that the uptake of dextran 10 kDa is specific macropinocytosis.
I wonder why people use dextran for macropinocytosis research? Is the molecular weight the only factor influencing the endocytosis process?
And whether macropinocytosis will only occur in RAS-mutated cell lines or not? Since I have seen some contradiction in some publications.
Thanks, everybody.
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