passage across vessel wall

Last reviewed 01/2018

Once adhered, the leukocyte moves a section of itself - a pseudopodium - through an intercellular junction. This process depends on the relatively high concentration of ICAM-1 and PECAM adhesion molecules at the site.

It then moves in amoeboid fashion through this region until it comes to lie under the enothelial cell, beneath its basement membrane. Eventually, it breaks through the basement membrane.