Specialization of the macrophage plasma membrane at sites of interaction with opsonized erythrocytes

We incubated mouse peritoneal macrophages for 3-8 min at 37 degrees C with antibody-coated sheep erythrocytes and examined regions of close interaction between the two cell types by electron microscopy. At sites of focal macrophage-erythrocyte contact we observed a distinctive specialization of the macrophage plasma membrane consisting of a prominent subplasmalemmal band of electron-dense material, approximately 25-35 nm in thickness. In many instances, this band showed a periodic substructure similar to that seen in clathrin coats. Moreover, many slender erythrocyte processes penetrated into invaginations of the macrophage surface which were bristle-coated at their blind extremity. As previously shown for clathrin-coated pits, the segments of the macrophage plasma membrane beneath which the defense material was found were selectively resistant to the membrane- perturbing effect of the antibiotic, filipin. This structural specialization of the macrophage plasma membrane at sites of ligand- receptor interaction during immune phagocytosis of antibody-coated erythrocytes may represent the morphological counterpart of the zipper mechanism of phagocytosis previously demonstrated by functional studies.