Inflammation occurs when leukocytes (white blood cells) leave the blood stream by passing between endothelial cells, the cells that line the walls of blood vessels, and move into the surrounding tissue. Endothelial cells actively change shape to allow leukocytes to pass between them, but this requires an increase in surface area that would not normally be allowed by a cell membrane. To allow this shape change, extra membrane and molecules that assist in the migration of the leukocytes are released from a compartment in endothelial cells called the Lateral Border Recycling Compartment (LBRC). The membrane in this compartment is constantly recycling in and out of the cell. This recycling is important in inflammation, but is very difficult to study experimentally and much is unknown about it.

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