Interplay Between Shear Stress and Adhesion on Neutrophil Locomotion
Lee A. Smith 1, Daniel A. Hammer 2*, Jered Haun 3 and Helim Aranda-Espinoza 4
1 University of Pennsylvania
2 U. Pennsylvaniua
3 U. Pennsylvania
4 U. Maryland College Park
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: hammer{at}seas.upenn.edu.
Submitted on December 8, 2005
Revised on January 19, 2006
Accepted on 19 September 2006
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Abstract |
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Leukocyte locomotion over the lumen of inflamed endothelial cells is a critical step, following firm adhesion, in the inflammatory response. Once firmly adherent, the cell will spread and will either undergo diapedesis through individual vascular endothelial cells or will migrate to tight junctions before extravasating to the site of injury or infection. Little is known about the mechanisms of neutrophil spreading or locomotion, or how motility is affected by the physical environment. We performed a systematic study to investigate the effect of the type of adhesive ligand and shear stress on neutrophil motility by employing a parallel-plate flow chamber with reconstituted protein surfaces of E-selectin, E-selectin/PECAM-1, and E-selectin/ICAM-1. We find that the level and type of adhesive ligand and the shear rate are intertwined in affecting several metrics of migration, such as the migration velocity, random motility, index of migration, and the percent of cells moving in the direction of flow. On surfaces with high levels of PECAM-1, there is a near doubling in random motility at a shear rate of 180s-1, compared to the motility in the absence of flow. On surfaces with ICAM-1, neutrophil random motility exhibits a weaker response to shear, decreasing slightly when shear is increased from static conditions to 180s-1, and is only slightly higher at 1,000s-1 than in the absence of flow. The random motility increases with increasing surface concentrations of E-selectin and PECAM-1 under static and shear conditions. Our findings illustrate that the endothelium may regulate neutrophil migration in post-capillary venules through the presentation of various adhesion ligands at sites of inflammation.
Key Words:
diapedesis, integrins, margination, motility, neutrophils, shear stress
