ETosis: A Microbicidal Mechanism beyond Cell Death

Figure 1

Mechanism of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps release. Neutrophils are stimulated by contact with bacteria, protozoan, fungi (yeast and hyphae forms) or their products (not shown), leading to: (a) ultrastructural alterations of nuclear shape with chromatin decondensation, swollen and fragmentation of the nuclear membrane, which allow the association of granules and cytoplasmic proteins with the chromatin, and (b) release of extracellular structures consisting of a DNA-backbone, decorated with histones, neutrophil granular and cytoplasmatic proteins (NETs), which ensnare and kill microorganisms.