The actin cytoskeleton consists of structurally and biochemically different actin filament arrays. Among them, the actin cortex is thought to have key roles in cell mechanics, but remains a poorly characterized part of the actin cytoskeleton. The cell cortex is typically defined as a thin layer of actin meshwork that uniformly underlies the plasma membrane of the entire cell. However, this definition applies only to specific cases. In general, the cortex structure and subcellular distribution vary significantly across cell types and physiological states of the cell. In this review, I focus on our current knowledge of the structure and molecular composition of the cell cortex.

肌动蛋白细胞骨架由结构和生化上不同的肌动蛋白丝阵列组成。其中，肌动蛋白皮层被认为在细胞力学中起着关键作用，但仍然是肌动蛋白细胞骨架中表征较差的部分。细胞皮层通常定义为肌动蛋白网薄层，均匀地覆盖整个细胞的质膜。但是，此定义仅适用于特定情况。通常，皮质结构和亚细胞分布在细胞类型和细胞的生理状态之间显着变化。在这篇综述中，我重点介绍了我们目前对细胞皮层的结构和分子组成的了解。