Cells in our bodies have the ability to speak with one another much like humans do. This communication allows organs in our bodies to work synchronously, which in turn, enables us to perform the remarkable range of tasks we meet on a daily basis. One of this mean of communication is ‘tunneling nanotubes’ or TNTs. In an article published in Nature Communications, researchers from the Institut Pasteur leaded by Chiara Zurzolo discovered, thanks to advanced imaging techniques, that the structure of these nanotubes challenged the very concept of cell. As their name implies, TNTs are tiny tunnels that link two (or more cells) and allow the transport of a wide variety of cargoes between them, including ions, viruses, and entire organelles.
— source pasteur.fr | Jan 31, 2019