Studying Cell Adhesion

Cell adhesion - the attachment of cells to any surface such as other cell membranes or tissues - is a complex process. In many physiological and pathological processes adhesion of a cell is the first critical step. A wide spectrum of the most powerful techniques currently available to study the basic parameters of cell adhesion, including binding strength, binding efficiency, membrane-membrane or membrane-substrate interaction, structural properties and dynamics of cell surface molecules, is presented in this strategy book. Sophisticated quantitative approaches as well as comprehensible semi-quantitative methods are described. The detailed theoretical background allows the critical assessment and application of these techniques. Front Matter....Pages I-XIV Introduction....Pages 1-13 The Surface Force Technique: Interactions Between Surfactant Bilayers and Between Protein Layers....Pages 15-35 Direct Measurements of Specific Ligand-Receptor Interactions Between Model Membrane Surfaces....Pages 37-49 The Study of Biomolecules on Surfaces Using the Scanning Force Microscope....Pages 51-63 Surface Force Measurement Techniques and Their Application to the Interaction Between Surfactant Coated Surfaces....Pages 65-79 Measurement of the Strength of Cell-Cell and Cell-Substratum Adhesion with Simple Methods....Pages 81-92 Method to Assess the Strength of Cell-Cell Adhesion Using a Modified Flow Cytometer....Pages 93-109 A Quantitative Cell Adhesion Assay Based on Differential Centrifugation of Bound Cells....Pages 111-123 Picoforce Method to Probe Submicroscopic Actions in Biomembrane Adhesion....Pages 125-139 Study of Cell-Cell Interactions with the Travelling Microtube....Pages 141-156 Analysis of the Motion of Cells Driven Along an Adhesive Surface by a Laminar Shear Flow....Pages 157-173 Techniques for Studying Blood Platelet Adhesion....Pages 175-184 Interference Reflection Microscopy and Related Microscopies and Cell Adhesion....Pages 185-193 Advances towards the Measurement of Cell Contacts with Surfaces at Near Nanometer Vertical Resolution by Means of Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence....Pages 195-218 Electron Microscopical Analysis of Cell-Cell and Cell-Substrate Interactions : Use of Image Analysis, X-Ray Microanalysis and EFTEM....Pages 219-241 Back Matter....Pages 243-250 This reference describes the most powerful techniques currently available to study the basic parameters of cell adhesion, including binding strength, binding efficiency, membrane-membrane or membrane-substrate interaction, structural properties and the dynamics of cell surface molecules.