Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D Gingell.
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The widespread ability of eukaryotic cells to produce thin cytoplasmic sheets or lamellae 100-200 nm thick can give rise to uncertainties in the interpretation of interference reflection microscopy (IRM) images when cell-substratum topography is the key interest. If allowed to spread upon a poly-L-lysine-coated surface, Dictyostelium discoideum amoebae typically form ultrathin lamellae of approximately equal to 100 nm thickness by cytoplasmic retraction. Whereas the cell body is grey, the lamellae appear very dark under IRM optics. These dark areas could be misinterpreted as stemming from a closer cell-substratum apposition beneath the lamellae than the cell body. This ambiguity can be avoided if the technique of total internal reflection aqueous fluorescence (TIRAF) is used in conjunction with a high refractive index glass (n = 1.83) as substratum. Contributions to the image generated by thin cytoplasm and also variable cytoplasmic refractive index are thereby minimized due to the extremely short range of the 'illuminating' evanescent wave. From our comparative IRM and TIRAF study of the ultrathin lamellae of Dictyostelium amoebae it is concluded that the cell-glass gap is relatively uniform beneath the entire cell. We briefly discuss the sensitivity of several cell types to TIRAF, the generation of ultrathin lamellae and the nature of the cell-glass gap.
We have examined the contacts made by explanted chick heart and limb bud fibroblasts after 24-48 h on glass, using quantitative interference reflection microscopy (IRM). Contacts beneath very thin cytoplasmic lamellae were avoided because the images of such contacts depend on the thickness of the lamellae. Plaque-like focal contacts, distinguished on the basis of shape and low irradiance (darkness), are intimate adhesions to the substratum. These images can be interpreted if it is assumed that microfilaments associated with the lower membrane increase the local cytoplasmic refractive index. The range of irradiances measured for focal contacts was found to be rather wide, and our modelling shows that the most likely explanation for this is that the images receive variable contributions from the adjacent cytoskeleton. For this reason it is particularly difficult to assign a characteristic thickness for these contacts from IRM data. Close contacts, seen principally as 'grey' regions under migrating cells at the edges of the explants, also show a wide range of irradiances. Unlike focal contacts, it is not necessary to postulate any involvement of the cytoskeleton in their images and they can be modelled as regions where an aqueous glycocalyx zone about 20-30 nm thick separates the membrane bilayer from the glass. Paler grey regions that also look like close contacts are apparently formed where the cell surface has lifted several tens of nanometres from the glass.
We have studied cells on chemically defined monomolecular films of the long-chain alcohol docosanol. Langmuir-Blodgett films of the alcohol were deposited on glass coverslips, previously made hydrophobic with octadecyl groups. This gives films in which the alcohol headgroups face outwards to the water. Molecular orientation and film integrity were shown by a fluorescence adsorption test. Cell contacts on the films were observed in media without proteins by interference reflection microscopy (IRM) and the mechanics of detachment were examined by hydrodynamic shearing in a flow chamber. Cell contact with docosanol was compared with that on an adjacent area of octadecyl glass without a monolayer. Dictyostelium amoebae settled and spread on both docosanol and octadecyl glass, but little or no locomotion was seen on docosanol. On octadecyl glass the amoebae moved actively, forming ultrathin cytoplasmic lamellae, which look dark under IRM, and left distinctive trails of membranous debris. Hydrodynamic shearing showed that the amoebae stuck strongly to both surfaces and could not be removed from either at the maximum attainable wall shear stress of 6Nm-2. Red blood cells also adhered to both surfaces and removal from both occurred between 1 and 3Nm-2. IRM and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies indicated that this force leads to a minimal measure of red cell adhesion, since removal often involved the breakage of cytoplasmic tethers. Our results show that alcoholic -OH groups, in a two-dimensional array, provide a surface that is strongly adhesive for cells. No other method has made it possible to demonstrate cell adhesion purely to -OH groups, in a known orientation and density, and in the absence of any other functional groups on the interface.
Amoebae of the slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum form broad ultrathin cytoplasmic lamellae by a centripetal contractile process soon after they have spread on certain solid surfaces. We have investigated the surface requirements for initial triggering of this contact-mediated signalling system. The lamellar response is not normally evoked by glass, but is seen on glass covalently derivatized with paraffinic chains, as well as on glass covalently derivatized with amine groups and on glass bearing adsorbed polylysine. We have recorded the frequency of the lamellar response on these surfaces as a function of ionic strength and pH, and have measured the electrostatic potentials of the surfaces by the streaming potential method. Using these data we have concluded that the general trigger for the lamellar response is not a 'simple' physical or chemical property of the substrata: it is not dependent on specific chemical groups, degree of hydrophobicity, electrostatic potential, or charge density, taken as isolated factors. It seems likely that triggering is dependent on the overall energetics of cell-substratum interaction.
We describe a new device in which an accurately measured force is applied to individual adherent cells while the topography of the adhesion zone is simultaneously monitored. The force is applied via a flexible glass micropipette, attached by suction to the cell under study, and is calculated directly from the measured pipette deflection. Regions of close contact in the adhesion zone are observed using interference reflection microscopy. We have used the device to measure the force required to detach human red blood cells from hydrophobic and hydrophilic glass surfaces, and to detach Dictyostelium discoideum amoebae from a hydrophobic glass surface. The measured forces per unit length of contact perimeter are within an order of magnitude of the tensions required for membrane rupture.
A co-polymer with hydrophobic and hydrophilic segments was allowed to adsorb from aqueous solution onto glass previously made hydrophobic by derivatization with octadecyl dimethylchlorosilane. The polymer is thought to adsorb via its hydrophobic segments, leaving the hydrophilic segments free to extend into the water. After allowing cells to settle on the treated surface, the shear stress at the chamber wall required to remove red blood cells, Dictyostelium discoideum amoebae and Escherichia coli was determined in a calibrated laminar flow chamber. On octadecyl glass a shear stress of 2-3 Nm-2 evicts 50% of adherent red cells and E. coli. No D. discoideum amoebae could be removed at 5Nm-2. In striking contrast, the lowest experimentally obtainable shear stress of 0.03 Nm-2 removes 97.0-99.5% of cells of all three types from the polymer-treated surface, even after a cell residence time of 1 h without flow in the absence of free polymer. The minimum shear stress of 0.03Nm-2 corresponds to only approximately equal to 20 times the force of gravity on a red cell. The mechanism of action of the polymer and the implications of the results are discussed.
Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) has recently been used to look at the contacts made between cells and a glass surface on which they are spread. Our method utilizes the fluorescence of a water-soluble dye that acts as an extracellular aqueous volume marker. Fluorescence is stimulated by the short-range electric field near the glass surface that exists under conditions of total internal reflection. Since fluorescence is normally generated beneath a spread cell and not beyond it, the fluorescence of the image is related to the size of the cell-glass water gap. The images obtained are remarkable for their detail, contrast and the absence of confusing granularity due to cytoplasmic heterogeneity, which is commonly seen in interference reflection (IRM) images. We here develop a rigorous electromagnetic theory of total internal reflection in layered structures appropriate for cell contacts and apply it to quantitative TIRF. We show that: (1) TIRF, unlike IRM, can report cell-glass gaps in a way that is practically independent of the detailed physical properties of the cell; (2) TIRF is also far more sensitive than IRM for measuring cell-glass water gaps up to approximately equal to 100nm. These striking results explain the image quality seen by TIRF. As the initial step towards verifying our theory we show that measurement of the fluorescence stimulated by total internal reflection at a simple glass-water interface matches theoretical predictions.
We have developed a new method based on total internal reflection fluorescence to map the shape of the region between glass and the lower surface of a living cell spread upon it. Fluorescently labeled nonadsorbing volume marker molecules that cannot penetrate into the cell are locally stimulated so that they fluoresce only very near the glass/medium interface. The total fluorescence intensity at any point beneath the cell depends on the cell-to-glass separation. Focal contacts appear as dark areas owing to dye exclusion, whereas when the gap exceeds approximately 150 nm, fluorescence asymptotes to the bright background level. Our technique provides greater contrast than does interference reflection microscopy and is free from errors due to cytoplasmic thickness and refractive index inhomogeneities arising from cytoplasmic inclusions. We have shown that sufficiently large molecules suffer steric exclusion from regions accessible to small molecules, which gives new information about lateral penetrability in the apposition region.
We propose a quantitative theory of microscope interferometry where the specimen is illuminated by a cone of monochromatic light of solid angle 0 - 100 degree, corresponding to an illuminating numerical aperture of 0 to approximately 1.2. Computed results compare favorably with photometric measurements of fringe irradiance for a water wedge 0 - 2,000-nm thick. The interpretation of cell-substratum interference images is discussed in relation to the theory. We conclude that in assessing cell-glass separation, the cytoplasmic thickness does in general contribute significantly to the final image, but this contribution is minimized at high illuminating apertures. In these circumstances, however, normal incidence theory is inapplicable and the theory for finite illuminating aperture is essential. Neglect of this fact can lead to errors of up to 100% in estimated cell-glass separation.
The interaction of promastigotes of the protozoan parasite Leishmania tropica with mouse peritoneal macrophages in vitro was studied by scanning electron microscopy. Motile promastigotes attached to host cells by their flagellar tips to which the macrophages responded by producing rather closely fitting lamellar sheaths and progressively enveloping first the flagellum and then the body of the parasite. Lamellar advance during engulfment was rapid in the first 10 min but much slower later on. Fully engulfed parasites could be seen after 1 h but most parasites associated with host cells remained extracellular even after 4 h. On the other hand, parasites immobilized by fixation adhered by either their flagellar or somatic ends. Engulfment proceeded at a steady rate, and by 4 h most of them were completely engulfed. Both the attachment and engulfment stages of parasite uptake were inhibited by low temperature, cytochalasin D and mild fixation of macrophages. The rheological features of the host cells' response to parasite adherence indicate that invasion by parasites is through phagocytosis rather than penetration.
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Small sugar solutes effect variation in the equilibrium separation of lecithin bilayers in aqueous solution. Since sugars have negligible influence on bilayer structure, they probably act by modifying interbilayer forces. The observed widening and narrowing of the bilayer separation is correlated with the predicted weakening and strengthening of the attractive van der Waals forces between lipid bilayers that occurs with increasing sugar concentrations.
We have investigated the electrostatic interaction of glutaraldehyde-fixed human red cells with a polarizable electrode carrying a defined surface charge density which can be varied continuously through a wide range. Cells in a dilute salt solution are unable to adhere to the electrode at high negative charge, but at lower negative charge densities they are reversibly adherent and can be forced off by increasing the negative polarization. Near zero electrode charge they become irreversibly stuck to the electrode and cannot be evicted even at maximum electrode polarization. Calculation of the electrostatic repulsive force using measured charge densities indicates the existence of an attractive force which may be acting over several hundred angstroms.
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We have devised a method of making a flat oil/water interface which remains flat on inversion. Cell adhesion to the interface can be observed microscopically. Glutaraldehyde-fixed human red blood cells adhere to the interface between physiological saline and hexadecane containing surface-active behenic acid at pH values below about 7-5. At high pH values, cells are prevented from adhering due to dissociation of the carboxyl groups of behenic acid oriented in the interface. The negative red cells are driven away electrostatically. Adherent and non-adherent cells remain on the aqueous side of the interface and do not appreciably deform it when adherent. Cells are electrostatically attracted to a similar interface containing positively charged octadecyltrimethylammonium ions. Cells also adhere to an interface containing octadecanol, which carries no charge. Underlying both electrostatic repulsion and attraction between red cells and oil/water interfaces is an attractive force which may be of electrodynamic (van der Waals) origin.