HESI American Career College Practice Exam

Endocytosis is the cellular ingestion process where the cell membrane folds inward around a substance outside the cell and pinches off to form a vesicle inside. This requires energy and cytoskeletal changes, and it includes subtypes like phagocytosis (ingesting large particles), pinocytosis (ingesting fluids), and receptor-mediated endocytosis (specific uptake via receptors). The other terms don’t describe taking material into the cell: diameter is a width measurement, distal means farther away, and discrete means separate. Endocytosis is the term that captures the idea of cellular ingestion.