Tissue wound repair has been studied extensively. It involves the coordinated activation of several intracellular and intercellular pathways, as well as remodeling from the sequential recruitment of different cell types to the wound site. There is, however, an equally important process that happens at the single cell level, when the integrity of the plasma membrane is compromised. Individual eukaryotic cells can rapidly repair their plasma membrane after injury, through a process that restores internal homeostasis and prevents cell death. Despite its importance, investigations of this fascinating mechanism have been limited. Only recently have we begun to understand that plasma-membrane repair resembles tissue healing, in the sense that it also involves sequential, highly localized remodeling steps that ultimately eliminate all traces of the injury.
