Our three-dimensional (3-D) images showed that paxillin co-localized on actin filaments as fibrous structures, as well as clusters, in endothelial cells (ECs). In living ECs under flow condition, we monitored concurrently the intracellular dynamics of DsRed2-paxillin and GFP-actin by time-lapse video recording and dual-color fluorescence imaging. The results showed that the dynamic motion of paxillin as fibrous structures was associated with actin filaments, but not with microtubules. Our findings suggest that the actin network plays an important role not only in the assembly/disassembly of paxillin at focal adhesions, but also as a track for the intracellular transport of paxillin, which is involved in signaling pathway. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.