Question about degranulation

[Doc187]

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Does degranulation only refer to extracellular release of granules, or does it also include intracellular fusion with a pathogen?

 

[OveractiveBrain]

Does degranulation only refer to extracellular release of granules, or does it also include intracellular fusion with a pathogen?

That, actually, is a really good question. I have always used to to refer to extracellular release of granules, though, techincally, release into a phagosome IS extracellular... so, I can totally see the confusion, and, even though I'm posting, do not have the answer for you.

I don't think it particularly matters which technicality is correct.

Given that, I may have been inappropriately terming "degranulation" to mean only from cell to outside of cell.

 

[bonsaipalmtree]

Degranulation is typically used to refer to the release of granules extracellularly, but death via granules can actually happen either way, intra- or extracellularly. For example, a neutrophil can gobble up a pathogen and then fuse the vesicle (containing the pathogen) with its azurophilic granules. I think it's just a matter of semantics.