Dresden 2006 – scientific programme
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AKB: Biologische Physik
AKB 13: Cell Adhesion II
AKB 13.4: Talk
Tuesday, March 28, 2006, 15:15–15:30, ZEU 260
Cell Adhesion by Atomic Force Measurements — •Julia Schmitz1, Martin Benoit1, Jenia Manevich2, Ronen Alon2, and Kay-Eberhard Gottschalk1 — 1LMU Munich — 2Weizmann Institute
Integrins are involved in many fundamental cellular processes. They act in concert with other receptors and are the starting point of intra-cellular signalling networks. Since integrins are force transducing proteins, atomic force spectroscopy is an ideal tool to investigate these receptors in their native environment. The here examined VLA-4 integrin of white blood cells plays an important role in the immune response. Its natural ligand is the vascular cell adhesion molecule, VCAM. First, we are testing VLA-4 mediated interactions of the resting cell with immobilized VCAM. By doing force measurements under different immobilized VCAM densities, we obtain insight into on- and off-rates of two non-soluble proteins, one being immobilized on a surface and and the other being in the outer membrane of a living cell. Additionally, the mechanical properties of the anchoring cell membrane are probed. These measurements will serve as a baseline for the characterization of the cell behaviour under a variety of conditions. We are now characterizing the influence of divalent cations as well as of chemokines. Initial results demonstrate that the information we are obtaining by means of AFM is extremely detailed and complementary to flow-chamber and other measurements, so that a combination of different tools will be very valuable for a better characterization of cell adhesion properties.