TY - JOUR
T1 - A long-range attraction between aggregating 3T3 cells mediated by near-infrared light scattering
AU - Albrecht-Buehler, Guenter
PY - 2005/4/5
Y1 - 2005/4/5
N2 - At what range can a mammalian cell sense the presence of another cell and through what medium? To approach these questions, the formation of aggregates of a 3T3 cell variant (3T3x cells) grown on solid substrates was studied. Each of the aggregates consisted of cells that, at the time of their seeding, were single and located randomly. Yet somehow they seemed to detect each other within a certain range (Ra) and move together to form aggregates. The article describes a simple assay to measure the value of R a. When applied to 3T3x cells with altered intensities of near-infrared light scattering (ISC) the assay showed that (i) R a was much larger than one cell diameter, and (ii) R3 was directly related to ISC. The results suggest that near-infrared light scattering by the cells mediate a long-range attraction between them, which does not require physical contact and enables them to detect each other's presence.
AB - At what range can a mammalian cell sense the presence of another cell and through what medium? To approach these questions, the formation of aggregates of a 3T3 cell variant (3T3x cells) grown on solid substrates was studied. Each of the aggregates consisted of cells that, at the time of their seeding, were single and located randomly. Yet somehow they seemed to detect each other within a certain range (Ra) and move together to form aggregates. The article describes a simple assay to measure the value of R a. When applied to 3T3x cells with altered intensities of near-infrared light scattering (ISC) the assay showed that (i) R a was much larger than one cell diameter, and (ii) R3 was directly related to ISC. The results suggest that near-infrared light scattering by the cells mediate a long-range attraction between them, which does not require physical contact and enables them to detect each other's presence.
KW - Aggregation
KW - Cell sorting
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=17044391851&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.0407763102
DO - 10.1073/pnas.0407763102
M3 - Article
C2 - 15790680
AN - SCOPUS:17044391851
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 102
SP - 5050
EP - 5055
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 14
ER -