Loading AI tools
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The terminal web is a filamentous structure found at the apical surface of epithelial cells that possess microvilli. It is composed primarily of actin filaments stabilized by spectrin, which also anchors the terminal web to the apical cell membrane. The presence of myosin II and tropomyosin helps to explain the contractile ability of the terminal web. When contracted, the terminal web causes a decrease in diameter of the apex of the cell, causing the microvilli, which are anchored into the terminal web through their stiff actin fibers, to spread apart. This spreading apart of the microvilli aids cells in absorption.[1][2][3][4]
This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. (September 2015) |
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.