FIGURE 6.

Graphical conceptualization of the process of membrane raft enrichment in the maturation of R2 Retics. From a large and irregularly shaped R2 Retic (left) selected portions of non-raft membrane, or membrane selectively enriched in flotillin-2-containing rafts, together with some membrane skeleton are lost or, more likely, pinched off in the splenic milieu by the action of macrophages. The now resized lipid bilayer (middle) completes the anchoring to the membrane skeleton also thanks to the contribution of membrane raft interaction with the spectrin network, resulting in a mature and stable discocytic shape (right). The anchoring complexes based on band 3-ankyrin and the actin-based junctional complexes have been omitted for clarity. Membrane rafts are shown as short segments crossing the lipid bilayer. The various components are not drawn in scale.