{"id":12452,"date":"2026-02-04T16:22:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T12:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/?p=12452"},"modified":"2026-02-04T16:22:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T12:22:38","slug":"zombosomes-biologists-have-discovered-mobile-structures-without-a-cell-nucleus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/zombosomes-biologists-have-discovered-mobile-structures-without-a-cell-nucleus\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Zombosomes&#8221;: Biologists have discovered mobile structures without a cell nucleus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"2\"><span class=\"\">Biologists have discovered unusual microscopic vesicles that originate from astrocytes.<\/span><span class=\"\"> According to a study published in the journal <\/span><i class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"2\" data-index-in-node=\"134\">Cell Reports<\/i><span class=\"\">,<\/span><span class=\"\"> these structures have been named <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"2\" data-index-in-node=\"181\">&#8220;zombosomes&#8221;<\/b><span class=\"\"> because they can move independently like cells,<\/span><span class=\"\"> despite lacking a nucleus (the cell&#8217;s control center).<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\"><span class=\"\">Scientists at <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"3\" data-index-in-node=\"14\">Uppsala University<\/b><span class=\"\"> have determined that these subcellular units are not merely passive carriers.<\/span><span class=\"\"> Specialized software confirmed that zombosomes move freely.<\/span><span class=\"\"> They possess a membrane and the structural protein <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"3\" data-index-in-node=\"222\">vimentin<\/b><span class=\"\">,<\/span><span class=\"\"> which helps them perform complex maneuvers.<\/span><span class=\"\"> Furthermore,<\/span><span class=\"\"> they contain intact <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"3\" data-index-in-node=\"309\">mitochondria<\/b><span class=\"\">\u2014organelles that provide the chemical energy necessary for the zombosomes&#8217; movement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\"><span class=\"\">The study also revealed a dangerous side to zombosomes:<\/span><span class=\"\"> they carry aggregates of <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"4\" data-index-in-node=\"81\">alpha-synuclein<\/b><span class=\"\">.<\/span><span class=\"\"> This is a toxic protein that forms <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"4\" data-index-in-node=\"133\">Lewy bodies<\/b><span class=\"\"> in Parkinson&#8217;s disease.<\/span><span class=\"\"> Scientists observed how zombosomes transport this &#8220;harmful cargo&#8221; from astrocytes to neurons,<\/span><span class=\"\"> explaining how pathological processes spread throughout the brain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\"><span class=\"\">Some biologists believe that zombosomes might be a variant of previously known <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"5\" data-index-in-node=\"79\">&#8220;blebbisomes&#8221;<\/b><span class=\"\">\u2014so-called mobile vesicles secreted by other cell types.<\/span><span class=\"\"> However,<\/span><span class=\"\"> another group of scientists argues that their astrocytic origin and unique ability to transport pathological proteins make zombosomes a distinct and significant phenomenon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\"><span class=\"\">Regardless of the debate over the name,<\/span><span class=\"\"> researchers agree that this discovery opens a new path for studying the mechanisms of brain diseases.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/content\/article\/brain-cells-birth-zombielike-transport-vesicles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">science.org<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Biologists have discovered unusual microscopic vesicles that originate from astrocytes. According to a study published in the journal Cell Reports, these structures have been named &#8220;zombosomes&#8221; because they can move independently like cells, despite lacking a nucleus (the cell&#8217;s control center). Scientists at Uppsala University have determined that these subcellular units are not merely passive [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1594,1587,1657,1659],"tags":[4234,4233],"class_list":["post-12452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-research","category-science","category-technologies","tag-biologist","tag-zombosomes"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12459,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12452\/revisions\/12459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}