Term	Definition
Ungerminated spores	The entire polar tube is coiled inside the spore.
Incompletely germinated spores	The polar tube is partially extruded from the spore.
Germinated spores	The polar tube is extruded, and no polar tube remains within the spore.
Topological connectivity	Whether fluid flow is permitted across the end connections among organelles and sub-spaces within the spore.
Original polar tube content	Any material inside the polar tube prior to cargo entering the tube
Cargo	The content transported through the extruded polar tube; most likely the entire microsporidial cell. This content is not inside the polar tube in ungerminated spores.
External drag (dissipation term)	Energy dissipation between a moving polar tube and the surroundings.
Lubrication (dissipation term)	Energy dissipation associated with fluid flow in a thin gap.
Cytoplasmic flow (dissipation term)	Energy dissipation associated with fluid flow in a tube or pipe.
Cytoplasmic viscosity	An effective viscosity for the energy dissipation within the spore.
Boundary slip	An effective length scale which describes the behavior of the fluid velocity profile near a solid wall.
Boundary movement	The movement of the interfaces which separate different fluid compartments.