Dresden 2006 – scientific programme
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AKB: Biologische Physik
AKB 40: Poster Session II
AKB 40.34: Poster
Wednesday, March 29, 2006, 16:30–19:30, P3
Self-assembled phagosome crystal structures in fibroblasts — •Vamsi Kodali1,2, Joachim Spatz1,2, and Jennifer Curtis1,2 — 1Max-Planck-Institute for Metals Research, Department New Materials & Biosystems,Heisenbergstr. 3, D-70 569 Stuttgart. — 2University of Heidelberg, Department of Biophysical Chemistry.
During phagocytosis, cells actively deform their plasma membranes to engulf foreign objects. The engulfed object(phagosome)is then actively transported towards the nucleus by dynein motors in a process called retrograde motion. In this study we present the surprising observation that fibroblast cells ingest large numbers of latex microspheres and arrange them in beautiful 2D crystals with hexagonal order in the perinuclear region. We study the process of the crystallization which occurs for bead sizes ranging from 750 nm up to at least 6 microns, where the upper limit has not been fully explored. We also consider the influence of the crystallization of the beads on normal cell processes such as cell proliferation and study the impact of this massive volumetric intrusion on the organelles and the cytoskeleton of the fibroblasts. It was also found that there is an area limitation for the crystal structures in the cell and this limited area depends on the cell size and is independent of the bead size. Finally, we present the counterintuitive observation that mixed sizes of microspheres tend to phase separate with the large spheres moving to the center even under biased initial conditions.