Table 1.

Summary of key studies examining endocytosis during mitosis

Endocytic process	Observation	Phases showing inhibition	Surface receptor?	Cell line	Method	Reference
Formation of ferritin-containing coated vesicles (CME)	Membrane specializes and ferritin binds but invagination and separation of the vesicle from the PM is suppressed	Telophase	Yes, ferritin bound to surface but not internalized	Erythroblasts	EM	[4]
Phagocytosis of opsonized particles (IgG-coated erythrocytes)	Depressed during mitosis	Early prophase to early G1	Yes, erythrocytes bound to cell surface but were not internalized	Mouse macrophage J774.1	LM	[5]
Phagocytosis of non opsonized particles (latex beads)	Inhibited during mitosis (to ~13 % of interphase levels)	Early prophase to anaphase/telophase	No	Mouse macrophage J774.1	LM	[5]
Fluid pinocytosis (soluble horseradish peroxidase)	Inhibited	Mid-prophase to telophase	N/A	J774, CHO	LM	[5]
Adsorptive pinocytosis of ConA	ConA restricted to cell surface during mitosis	Mid-prophase to telophase	Yes, ConA binds to surface throughout mitosis	J774, CHO	LM	[5]
Endocytosis and phagocytosis	Peroxidase, dextran, and chloroquine uptake inhibited during mitosis	N/A	No	HTC	Assay	[7]
Fluid pinocytosis observed by internalization of fluorescent dextran	Reduced greater than 30-fold during mitosis	Within 30 s after entry into prophase-end telophase	N/A	J774.2	FM	[6]
Endocytosis of FITC-dextran	Less than 1 % of pro-metaphase, metaphase, and anaphase cells had taken up FITC-dextran	Early prophase–end telophase	N/A	A431	FM	[9]
Uptake of Rhodamine-transferrin	Reduced in mitosis	Prometaphase-telophase	Yes, cells in mitosis bind RITC-transferrin on their surface	HeLa S3	FM	[8]
Fluid pinocytosis measured by fluorescein-dextran and DNP-phycoerythrin uptake	Uptake inhibited	Prometaphase-telophase	Yes, DNP-Phe binds to the surface of mitotic as well as interphase cells	RBL-2H3	FM	[10]
Endocytosis of DNP-BSA-gold particles via coated pits	Gold particles taken up in interphase but not mitotic cells	Metaphase and anaphase	Yes, cells in mitosis accumulate surface-bound gold particles in coated pits.	RBL-2H3	EM	[10]
Coated pit invagination	All stages of coated pit invagination are present in mitotic cells	N/A	N/A	A431	EM	[11]
Invagination of coated pits	Mitotic cytosol and cdc2 kinase inhibit invagination of coated pits	Prometaphase	Yes, coated pits observed in both interphase and mitotic cells	HeLa	EM	[12]
Endocytosis of TMA-DPH	Decreased in mitosis	N/A	Yes, cell surface doubled at the beginning of mitosis	I929	FM	[13]
Endocytosis of fluorescent dextran	Number and intensity of internalized vesicles decreased to <20 % of interphase uptake in metaphase	Prometaphase-cytokinesis	Mitotic endocytosis restored by decreasing membrane tension with amphiphilic compounds	HeLa	FM	[14]
Endocytosis of FM1-43	Number and intensity of internalized vesicles decreased to ~30 % of interphase uptake in metaphase	Prometaphase-anaphase	No	HeLa, NIH-3T3	FM	[14]
Endocytosis of transferrin	Decreased in early mitosis	Prometaphase-anaphase/telophase	No	HeLa	FM	[15]

In addition to these studies, whose main point was to examine membrane trafficking during cell division, there are many others that confirmed the shutdown of endocytosis tangentially, e.g., [71, 72]

EM electron microscopy, LM light microscopy, FM fluorescence microscopy