Constitutive Secretion (Golgi): First Look

The following images attempt to illustrate the major events involved in the constitutive secretion of proteins that travel through the Golgi apparatus on their way to the plasma membrane of the cell. Clicking on each of the thumbnail images will bring up a larger, labeled version of the described scene.

To see the Flash movie for the following sequence of images, click here.

	Proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum must pass through the Golgi apparatus before they be constitutively secreted.
	Secretory vesicles leave the Golgi and merge with the plasma membrane, releasing their cargo outside the cell, by a process called exocytosis.
	White blood cells use constitutive secretion to release interleukins, a kind of signaling protein.